Hollow Victory
by Shadow Oblivion
Summary: In which Captain Salazar gets his revenge and kills a Sparrow, but in exchange, he and his crew are still cursed, forced to roam the sea endlessly as they attempt to find a way to reverse the curse laid on them in the Devil's Triangle.
1. Kill the Sparrow

A/N: I just felt like writing about Salazar and his crew, which translated into all of the 'good guys' ending up dead in this fic. I like what-if stories so I just kind of rolled with the way this went. I really liked these characters, and was a bit disappointed that more couldn't be done with them due to movies needing to be a certain length.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from the PotC franchise. I just wanted to write about the cursed Spanish captain getting his revenge.

x-x-x-x-x-x

Captain Armando Salazar was a happy man. Happy, in part, because he knew, just _knew_ that he had finally cornered the Sparrow. With a nod at his nearest men, Salazar wheezed out his orders.

"Call the rest of our men back. Fire on the pirates and sink that ship. I will take care of Jack the Sparrow." Only moments before, Salazar had witnessed the wily pirate being thrown through the ruined side of the _Silent Mary_ , putting him right where Salazar wanted him.

Satisfied that his men would follow his orders without question, Salazar limped to the lower deck of his ship, sword drawn and at the ready. He was going to kill the Sparrow now. He'd dodged Salazar one too many times, and the Spanish captain was ready to be done with his enemy once and for all. Wheezing out a laugh at the sight of Jack carefully picking his way along the ruined floorboards of the _Mary_ , Salazar appeared before the pirate with a few quick limps, sword already slashing at Jack with vicious precision.

The pirate parried, much to Salazar's irritation, but it would end one way or another. It was clear that he was a much better swordsman than the pirate. Salazar advanced on Jack as he swung his sword at the pirate before him over and over.

There would be no more running. No more hiding. There was nowhere the pirate could go, and Salazar would not allow him to flee.

Salazar sidestepped to block Jack's way out the hole in the side of the _Mary_ , backing the pirate further away from the hope of freedom. Salazar pressed his attacks harder and harder, steel clanging on steel until even the Spaniard's swings became a bit sloppier. With so much anger being directed at the pirate now that he was finally face to face with him, Salazar didn't care if his form slipped up. It was enough that it kept the pirate on the defensive. And then finally, _finally_ , Jack was disarmed and Salazar stood over his weaponless foe as he raised his blade, tip down.

There were no words spoken as the pirate and the cursed Spanish captain locked eyes with one another.

There was nothing to be said, really, and Salazar was not about to waste this chance bandying words with a dead man. Instead, he gave a swift downward thrust of his blade to the damned pirate's heart. The sound of cannons soon followed, signaling that his men were firing upon the _Black Pearl_ as ordered. But Salazar ignored the sound, all his focus on the pirate he had just stabbed. Salazar kept his eyes locked with Jack's as a shocked expression crossed the pirate's face.

"Shh." Salazar croaked out, blood lodging in his throat as his body went through the motion of dying again. "I told you before, didn't I…that I would make you pay for what you did to me?" Salazar saw Jack's mouth open soundlessly, which was just as well, as Salazar had more to say himself as he leaned on his sword and chuckled, "The pirate's way of life is over, Jack Sparrow, as are you."

" _Capitan_ , the ship is sinking." One of Salazar's men, Santos, called out from near a decrepit cannon. "Should we continue to fire, sir?"

Salazar's gaze remained fixed on Jack's until he saw the pirate breathe his last breath. With a slow sigh, Salazar tugged his blade up. He made a futile attempt to clean it of blood before sheathing it. A slow smile made its way onto his face. "Jack the Sparrow is no more." How long he stood there, staring down at the lifeless pirate, Salazar didn't know, and only jolted out of his stare when a hand fell on his shoulder, and a voice spoke.

" _Capitan_?"

It was Lesaro.

Salazar straightened his uniform as best he could, not even bothering to try and tame his eerily floating hair. It was a lost cause, as far as he could tell, and it would only bring unpleasant reminders of the hole in the side of his head. Shaking himself out of his futile attempts to clean himself up, Salazar turned to face his lieutenant, and accepted his cane from the other man. Salazar leaned against it after giving a nod to Lesaro before he turned with a wheeze, away from his defeated enemy. Clenching his teeth against a wave of pain that coursed through his body, Salazar gave his men an order.

"Throw the Sparrow off of the _Mary_. I will not have him sully her decks any longer."

None of his men pointed out the fact that the blood would remain on the deck, unable to be scrubbed away, unless a surge of water rolled over the deck, washing the blood away before it stained the deck permanently. Instead, a few of Salazar's crew did as their captain bade them, and rolled Jack's body out of the hole that had been broken by the other ship's cannon.

Salazar heard the splash, but didn't look back. He had finally killed Jack, and since he had already confirmed the pirate was dead, there was no need to watch a body being disposed of. Limping, Salazar made his way to the upper deck, though he had to pause to spit black blood off the side of the ship. It had welled up in his mouth earlier, and Salazar let out a disgusted sound after he'd rid himself of it. He hated relieving his death over and over, and despised having to endure the continuous flow of his lifeblood leaving him. It drove him mad, being made so disgusting, and yet there was nothing he could do but move on and try to make the best of his and his crew's unfortunate situation.

It was only when Salazar recovered for the most part from his body's reactions that he realized something. Apart from the sound of his men joining him on deck, there was silence. A wonderful, wonderful silence, broken only by the creaking of board and the crackle of flame coming from the wrecked _Black Pearl_.

Salazar cast a scrutinizing gaze over the pirate ship and from the fact that no one had surfaced, begging for mercy, his crew had done as he had commanded. The _Black Pearl_ was sinking beneath the waves with her crew, leaving in its wake broken boards floating to the surface.

And silence.

Salazar stared at the sea, turning over the fact that he had finally disposed of Jack the Sparrow, and that only the _Silent Mary_ and its crew remained. The enormity of what had happened sunk in, and Salazar threw his head back to let out a delighted laugh.

His crew cheered along raggedly, knowing how long their captain had wished to destroy the pirate that had condemned them to this hell they were forced to live.

After so many years in the darkness, the Spanish captain had finally had his revenge. The Sparrow's wings had been clipped, and he would no longer dog Salazar's dreams. No longer would Salazar have to strew in resentment and rage of that young pirate boy who had so long ago condemned the _Silent Mary_ 's crew to a hell unlike any of them could have ever imagined. No longer would Salazar see the smug smile in his sleep or that damned spinning of the compass as the young pirate left them to their fate. And not even really sleep, unless gazing out to a sea that he couldn't touch for the longest time counted as sleep.

"Land!" A panicked shout rang out, breaking Salazar from his musings. The trouble became apparent, and Salazar acted immediately.

"Hard to starboard. Keep clear of the land. Don't let the _Mary_ run aground!" Salazar ordered, cane tapping against the deck as he limped along. Already he could see Lesaro at the helm, hand turning over hand as he steered the _Silent Mary_ away from the land they were coming up upon.

"We've cleared the land, sir!" Santos shouted from port several tense moments later.

The whole crew seemed to relax instantly now that their ship was no longer in danger of hitting land. Lesaro, hands still gripping the wheel, had his eyes on the land and was eyeing it with something akin to sorrow and resignation. Allowing another crewman to take the helm, Lesaro made his way over to his captain's side. He hadn't been the only one looking at the land longingly as they narrowly passed it by.

" _Capitan_?"

"Hm?" Salazar turned to his attention from the island to his lieutenant.

"We cannot step on dry land, sir, and the pirates were the only ones who knew the way to the trident." Lesaro indicated the pieces of the _Black Pearl_ that had not yet sunk. "Without them, we cannot find the trident. And since we cannot step on land, _Capitan_ , we cannot look for any clues."

The logic struck true, and Salazar gripped his cane tight as his lieutenant's words sunk in. Perhaps Jack Sparrow was a curse of his own. Salazar had had his revenge, and yet now, he had lost his only way to the trident, and with it, full command of the sea. Salazar focused his gaze upon dry land, before his shoulders dropped down as he realized he had acted rashly.

"Orders, _Capitan_?"

"…see if there are any survivors." Salazar said at length, once he had weighed his options. As much as he didn't like the idea of a pirate having survived, he needed one that knew how to get to the trident. "Bring back anyone still alive."

"Sir."

Salazar half heard Lesaro giving orders to some of the crew, and now, Salazar and the rest of his men would wait. It wasn't a long wait. Soon enough, news was brought back that there were no living to bring aboard. His men had been thorough once he gave orders, and Salazar would not fault them for it. After all, he expected his ship to be run orderly and exact. It would follow that his crew, despite their ragged appearance, were effective as ever at following their captain' orders.

"What now, sir?" Lesaro was back, but Salazar had no answers to give to his lieutenant. Not right now. Salazar realized only now that he had been so consumed and blinded by rage that he had ruined the chance to find the trident of Poseidon and secure command of the sea. And with it, ridding the world of pirates with ease.

" _Capitan_?"

Salazar wordlessly held out his cane to the side once he had limped to the helm, knowing that Lesaro would have followed him. "We continue on, lieutenant. There are still many pirates to hunt." Once Lesaro took the cane and stood a respectful distance away, Salazar met the other man's eye. "Tell the crew we're leaving, lieutenant."

"Aye, sir." Lesaro said with a nod, before he strode off and began relaying Salazar's orders. "All hands on deck, prepare the _Silent Mary_. Sails full."

Salazar exchanged a silent nod with his lieutenant when he returned, before the Spanish navy captain gripped the wheel of the _Mary,_ and steered them further away from land.

And away from an enemy that had haunted Salazar for so long, one that had finally been destroyed after such a long time.

-x-x-x

The longer Salazar and his men hunted down pirates, the more Salazar began to understand that even if destroying pirates gave him purpose, to rid the sea of such riff raff, it wasn't as satisfying. No, Salazar found that he didn't have as much pleasure destroying pirates now. Not after he'd killed Jack Sparrow.

Salazar gnashed his teeth, displeased that even in death Jack stole more from him than he already had.

And as several years passed, and the pirate ships grew fewer, Salazar began to lose purpose. Weeks could go by without sighting a telltale Jolly Roger, or any sail in general. Much of the time, it was nothing but empty sea, and the _Silent Mary_ cutting through choppy seas, unimpeded.

It drove him mad.

-x-x-x-

" _Capitan_ , there have been no sightings of pirates in months. Perhaps we hunted the last of them?" Lesaro questioned, interrupting his captain's quiet watch of sea. When he noticed that his captain had turned to regard him, Lesaro couldn't help but notice his captain appeared wearier and even more ragged than before, despite being dead. "What shall we do, sir? We cannot go on land, nor can we rest. Some of the men had gone overboard, searching out land, unable to stand this existence of ours anymore."

The few years that had gone by weighed heavily on Salazar; more so than when they had all been trapped in the darkness of the Devil's Triangle. Perhaps sailing by their homeland months ago had been a mistake. Many men aboard the _Silent Mary_ had gone to their doom, unable to resist the pull of their native land. Salazar steered clear of it after that, not wishing to lose any more of his crew. Not when all of them had been so loyal, following a captain who had lost his mind over a single pirate, yet still faithfully followed his orders. His pride was still there, but weaker than before, most days being unable to do much more than ensure that the _Silent Mary_ didn't run aground and destroy them all. Shaking his head at a telltale splash, Salazar limped away from the side of the _Mary_ to the helm, taking the wheel and gripping the weathered wood tightly.

"We are cursed, _mi_ _amigo_. What would you have us do differently? As you say, we cannot go ashore. Has every man aboard this vessel lost faith in the curse being undone?" It was really the only thing keeping them all going, and for Salazar, it was what he clung to, now that Jack Sparrow had been dead three years.

Lesaro remained silent, unable to meet his captain's gaze.

It was answer enough, and Salazar felt a familiar rage begin to course through him. It was not directed at his crew, but at the dead pirate. It wasn't right, that his men would become so demoralized that they would choose to end their own existence.

"I won't let this be the end, Lesaro." Salazar's voice was soft as he steered the ship away from a distant land coming up in front of them. "I won't let it end." Salazar's voice came out stronger, the rage building up. "I will not let the _Silent Mary_ and its crew fall into further ruin. We are the pride of the Spanish Navy. We will be free of this curse one day, lieutenant. Do not despair; let the men know that we will continue on, no matter what may come." Salazar looked back to seas, to where the water stretched out endlessly before him. Coughing up some blood, Salazar's cold gaze fixed on the horizon as he wheezed in a lower tone. "I won't allow the Sparrow to defeat us like this."

Lesaro heard his captain, and he didn't have it in him to tell Salazar that Jack had already defeated them the moment the _Silent Mary_ had sailed into the Devil's Triangle. With a shake of his head, out of pity or acknowledgment of his captain's words, Lesaro took the cane being held out to him, and after giving orders to the crew, returned to his captain's side. How long they would sail the seas, Lesaro didn't know, but what he did know was that the crew that would remain on board were unwavering in their loyalty, and would follow their captain wherever he chose to go.

Just as Lesaro was about to say something, a ship became outlined in the distance.

"...Sir...could that be?"

"Spyglass." Salazar managed to say, and Santos, walking by, heard his captain, and quickly fetched one and handed it over.

"What is it, _capitan_?" Santos and Lesaro exchanged a glance. If nothing else, if it were a pirate ship, it would certainly improve Salazar's mood, but what Lesaro and Santos hadn't expected was to hear was their captain take in a hissing breath of air he did not need as his body went rigid at whatever he had caught sight of.

" _Capitan_?" Lesaro became concerned when his captain didn't move or speak, seemingly in shock. Lesaro gently pried the spyglass from his captain's hands, which brought Salazar out of his frozen posture, and straight to the wheel again as he focused on the ship ahead of them, his gaze fixed on it.

Lesaro saw a pirate flag.

A familiar one.

The ship was different, of course, but there was no mistaking the figure up in the crow's nest. Lesaro peered at the pirate's face through the spyglass, and caught sight of the way the man jauntily waved as if he knew he was being looked at. Lesaro dropped the spyglass and whipped around to face his captain, who looked as if he had seen a ghost.

" _Capitan_ , did you not kill him?"

"My sword pierced his heart. I am sure of it." Salazar confirmed, though a slow smile had taken place of the frown at the prospect of hunting down a supposedly dead enemy.

Lesaro passed the spyglass to Santos, and when he confirmed he saw the pirate as well, Lesaro looked again. Jack Sparrow was still in the crow's nest and clearly alive. Jack could be seen holding something aloft, still waving, and as the ship sailed close enough to make it out, Lesaro saw what it was Jack was holding.

A book with a hole in it.

" _Capitan_ , your aim was true." Lesaro informed him. "The pirate is holding up a torn book. Perhaps that diverted your blade." Lesaro lowered the spyglass again to find his captain limping to the front of the _Silent Mary_ , fists clenched at his side, shaking with suppressed fury. Lesaro took the helm to keep the Mary going in a straight line, awaiting his captain's orders.

"Jack!" Salazar was seething as he dissolved into his native tongue, cursing the pirate. How dare that pirate have the nerve to show himself, clearly alive and breathing, and _mock him_ as if he hadn't a care in the world. "JACK!"

Lesaro highly doubted that the pirate could see his captain raging at him, but Jack certainly should have seen the dark clouds over the _Silent Mary_ grow dark and stormy.

Salazar limped back, stumbling a little without the aid of cane or sword, but managed to catch himself on the wheel. He held out his hand and Lesaro had a feeling it was the spyglass and not the cane his captain wanted, and was proven correct when he handed the spyglass to his captain. Salazar raised the spyglass to an eye and focused on the damn Sparrow that was still alive. "Lieutenant, tell the men to make ready for battle. We will not let that pirate escape."

"Sir." Lesaro turned and gave the order, and when he looked back at the ship Jack was in, he realized that it was fading in and out of sight. " _Capitan,_ there is a fog up ahead."

"We have nothing to fear from fog. What more can be done to us or the _Mary_?" Salazar shook head. "We'll follow that damn pirate while keeping watch for land. We will sink his vessel, and this time, I shall make certain he is dead."

The _Silent Mary_ seemed to be propelled faster through the water at her captain's wishes, and Salazar let out a laugh when he saw Jack's ship try to hide from him in the fog. It was only when the _Silent Mary_ was shrouded in fog that the Spanish captain seemed to notice that something was amiss. The ship they had been following was nowhere to be seen, until it came slowly back into view. Yet the closer they got, the less like a sailing vessel it became, until the ship they'd been chasing materialized out of the fog as a wreck like their own vessel. And when Salazar turned the _Silent Mary_ to come alongside it, he and his crew found no living aboard. No Jack Sparrow, alive and well, jauntily waving and mocking the dead.

Nothing was there.

Nothing.

Salazar paced the deck of the _Mary_ , angrily tapping the deck with his cane as he tried to figure out what this meant.

" _Capitan_. There's something out there." Santos pointed.

Salazar limped over to the side where Santos was pointing, and held perfectly still as a wispy…something drifted by the ship. Frowning a little, Salazar turned back to the wheel and began to steer the _Silent Mary_ through the fog. They continued to sail unimpeded, but now and again, they would hear the screams of sailors around them, lost in the fog.

"El diablo." One of the crew muttered, flinching back from the side of the ship as another tortured scream tore through the air, closer than before. "These are cursed waters."

"The screams...where are they coming from?" Another man with a missing arm wondered.

The crew murmured worriedly, and despite their ghastly forms, they were more apt to believe in curses and myths, now that they were under one. But nothing apart from the swirling fog crossed the _Silent Mary's_ deck, giving no reason or explanation for the screams. The fog would occasionally solidify, brushing by them and making their ruined clothes flutter. It was almost as if the fog was alive, and that the fog itself was disappointed that Salazar and his crew were not living men.

But that was a foolish thought even if there surely were other curses at sea. Salazar and his men, after all, were cursed…doomed, to live as they were, to feel the pain of their deaths over and over yet be unable to die. Unless, of course, one of them chose to step foot on land, which meant that man would be in for a second violent and painful death, and wouldn't be coming back. A few times Salazar though he heard whispers amongst the occasional scream, whispers within the fog itself, but brushed it aside as he focused on steering the _Silent Mary_ around shipwrecks that littered the foggy expanse of sea.

Soon, the _Silent Mary_ sailed soundlessly out of the fog, and back onto a rough churning sea.

The entire crew was puzzled at what they had just experienced, but none so more than their captain, who had been sure that he had seen Jack the Sparrow alive again. Perhaps he had been imagining it because he had wanted so much to take pleasure in hunting pirates again, and had enjoyed immensely running Jack into a corner. With a frustrated shake of his head and the fog getting further and further behind the _Silent Mary,_ Salazar and his men continued on, not having any idea that they would not have sailed away from the fog so easily had they not already been dead.

-x-x-x-

Days later, the undead crew of the _Silent Mary_ would begin to hear tales about the life-like hallucinations sailors had been experiencing in a certain part of the sea. That they would witness the sight of a loved one or enemy, waving to them from another ship and enticing them toward a foggy sea. The ships, if they didn't wreck in the fog, would come sailing out some months later, a dead crew on her decks yet with no marks of death upon them. As much as Salazar was furious at the thought of being forced to see an apparition of an enemy he thought dead, it was a relief to know that the Spanish captain had not been mistaken in seeing Jack Sparrow dead years ago, sword firmly in the pirate's heart.

And as the years continued to pass by, Salazar and his crew came into contact with even more cursed beings such as themselves, and it made Salazar wonder if they would ever be free of their own curse. Salazar was not one to give up, despite the hopelessness of the situation, so neither would his crew. They would live again. They would live to step foot on the dry land of their homeland again, and be greeted with a warm welcome for purging the sea of pirates.

Until that day came to pass, Salazar and his crew would continue to roam the sea in search of any remaining pirates, and bring down any and all in their path that would dare to stop them from completing their mission.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

A/N: Really limited Spanish words so as to try to not butcher the language. I enjoyed writing this, so maybe I'll make another fic about Salazar and his crew stalking the seas and trying to find a way to be rid of the curse. If I'm up to it or it hits me sometime, then I might write more. If not, then this is my contribution to PotC fanfiction.


	2. Uncharted Waters

A/N: Consider this and future chapters a continuation of the first chapter, which can still be considered a one-shot (see rest of A/N at the end of this chapter).

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

It was still a shock to be able to sail wherever he wished, instead of being trapped within the confines of the Devil's Triangle. Odd, really, to be able to not run into some invisible barrier, barring both Salazar and his crew from seeing the daylight. To have their only contact to the outside world be those with the misfortune to sail into the cursed waters in which they had been trapped. The daylight had been a shock to all aboard the _Silent Mary_ , followed by a joyous wonder that any of them could have ever forgotten what it was like to be beneath the sun and its warm rays.

And now, now that they were free, and Jack the Sparrow was dead and no longer hounding Salazar's mind, the cursed Spanish captain had a new objective to focus on. To find a way to lift the curse that had been placed on them decades ago.

With a dark scowl at the empty waters before him, Salazar gripped the wheel and tapped his sword against the deck irritably. It was easier said than done, and as the time freed from the Devil's Triangle passed the three year mark, Salazar knew that he had to do something. As captain, he needed to find a way to free them. For those three years, he had had the _Silent Mary_ prowl familiar waters, yet it soon became apparent that that would do nothing to solve the riddle of whether or not there was something out there in this world that could end their suffering. Be it another curse or some witchcraft, as averse to the latter as Salazar was, he didn't care. He wanted something to go on. Something to look for. Anything to take his mind, and the mind of his crew, off their own daily struggles. Some glimmer of light in the darkness, to make it worth continuing on, despite being dead, their bodies broken and constantly in pain. Which was why they were now out of familiar waters, and sailing into uncharted ones.

" _Capitan_." Officer Moss was on the starboard side of the ship, peering through a spyglass. "There is a pirate ship, sir."

Salazar let out a raspy, pleased laugh, and tapped his sword against the deck again. This time his laugh was in anticipation rather than annoyance as he turned the wheel with his other hand, bringing the _Mary_ in line with the pirate ship in the distance. Muttering under his breath in his native tongue about pirates, Salazar cocked his head to see his lieutenant wearing an unreadable expression. Shaking his head, and growling when his hair floated into his vision, Salazar spoke. "What is that look for? Just because we are looking to end this curse of ours does not mean hunting pirates has ended."

"...That was not the turn of my thought, _capitan_." A faint smile hovered over the lieutenant's features. "It is merely what you said just now. About finally finding another pirate ship to destroy."

"And what of it?" Salazar asked, briefly turning his attention to the seas to ensure the _Mary_ sailed true. Satisfied, Salazar settled his eyes on his lieutenant as an impatient hand brushed the floating hair out of his vision.

"Merely that your passion for hunting down pirates is as strong as ever." Lesaro stated in return. "Many of the men thought you depressed these past few months, with no pirates in sight."

Salazar let out a terrible laugh, black blood oozing down his lips unchecked as he considered the other man's words. "Who among us would not be depressed in this state, eh? Hunting down those who taint the sea always brings me joy, _mi_ _amigo._ I have not given any indication otherwise."

" _Capitan_ , there are several pirate ships in the distance." Santos called from port.

"We will go after the closest." Salazar fired out rapid orders in Spanish, and as Lesaro echoed his captain's words, Salazar held tight to the wheel, eyes locked on the pirate ship. It was an offense to the cursed Spanish captain's eyes that there were still so many Jolly Roger's littering the sea. Despite yearning to be free of his curse and the constant pain it brought him, Salazar was elated that he could resume hunting down pirates after a dry spell of no sails for months. As he had said to his lieutenant, it gave the cursed captain great joy to rid the waters of those miserable miscreants that tainted the water. It had taken three years after killing the Sparrow, but finally Salazar could again enjoy the hunt without feeling that he was missing something.

With his crew at the ready, and the _Silent Mary_ bearing down on the pirate ship like a vengeful wraith, Salazar guided the _Mary_ with her now parted hull over the top of the pirate ship, and snapped the other ship in half like it was nothing more than a twig beneath his foot. Salazar felt savage pleasure that the _Silent Mary_ , while decrepit and missing much of her former glory, could still take down pirates ship as she had before her crew had become cursed, and the _Silent Mary_ taken heavy damage. With a grimace, Salazar took his cane in hand and limped across the deck, before he leapt over the side and landed on one burning piece of the pirate ship that had not yet sunk. Already, Salazar could tell without having to ask that all pirates were dead, but for one terrified, filthy individual who looked like he had seen the depths of hell open up before his very eyes.

"Where are we?" Salazar came to a halt before the frightened pirate, leaning against his cane for support as he glared down at the wretch. "Have you any charts of these seas?"

"We were...we were sailin' past the Philippines..." The pirate managed to stammer out with a squeak, when he saw the ghostly navy men closing in around him with drawn weapons.

"And the charts?" Salazar reiterated, as he moved closer with another tap of cane against the wood of the deck.

"In the cap'n's quarters." The pirate looked near ready to faint when he witnessed Salazar cough up some black blood, and skittered back across the deck when the blood dripped on the deck near him. "S'all I know."

"Ah." Salazar thumped his cane in thought, before he loomed over the pirate again. Aware that blood was welling up in his throat, the cursed Spanish captain spoke, blood again dribbling out and making the pirate recoil backward in disgust. "I always leave one man alive to tell the tale." With a comment in Spanish about the man's unruly appearance, Salazar then ordered his men to search for any charts. That they might replace theirs that had decayed over time while trapped in the Triangle with ones that were undamaged and whole.

Leaving the quivering pirate be, Salazar limped back toward his own ship, teeth gnashing against the sensation of more blood welling up inside his mouth. Some days it wasn't so bad, so it was inconvenient that his body chose today to make him appear so horrific in the eyes of others. The disgust on the pirate's face hadn't escaped Salazar's notice, and for a brief moment, the cursed captain found it maddening that he shared a filthy pirate's sentiments about the constant blood that he was forced to deal with. The blood that came with being struck in the head, and it made his anger rise at the mere thought of being so repulsive, both from blood and the gaping hole in his head. The limp Salazar had come to accept, just as he accepted the need of support from cane or sword once it was made clear that the fall from the destroyed _Mary_ had broken his body in more places than just his head before death.

" _Capitan_." Lesaro tactfully said nothing of Salazar spitting blood into the sea in a rather undignified manner. "What do you hope to gain with the charts of pirates?"

"I do not want _their_ charts. They are not likely to be legible." Salazar boarded the Silent Mary, and limped to the helm, Lesaro trailing along after him. "No, I want any charts they may have stolen. Ones they may not know what to make of." Salazar did not have to wait very long before Officer Magda came up alongside him and presented him with a few rolled up charts, and more importantly, a functioning compass.

"Bring them over here." Salazar ordered, having a few of the crew shove a decaying table from inside one of the cabins near the helm. Salazar tapped his cane absently against the deck as he and his officers poured over a few of the charts, considering where they were to go next. After a few more minutes mulling over the charts, and a quiet, yet rapid conversation in their native tongue, it was decided that they would continue to sail west.

-x-x-x-

As the _Silent Mary_ glided unimpeded through stormy seas early the next morning, yet another one of the pirate ships that had slipped through Salazar's clutches was spotted.

" _Capitan_. There! It is the ship from yesterday evening." Santos called out.

Salazar was not feeling in a particularly merciful mood, not that he ever was when hunting down pirates. It incensed him that one ship had sailed so easily out of sight for near a whole day, and he had ordered his crew to follow after it until they found it again. Which they had. The cursed captain took the helm, and guided the _Silent Mary_ swiftly after her quarry, the hull again rising out of the sea to grind down on the pirate ship like the mouth of some hungry beast. Explosions rocked the deck of the pirate ship as the _Mary_ tore the pirate ship in half. Salazar bared blood-stained teeth, savagely delighted by the destruction wrought on the pirates.

"There will be no mercy." Salazar said, noticing that his men had looked to him for orders. "Kill them all." Salazar noted Lesaro's silent gaze, but said nothing. His lieutenant knew how much he despised pirates, and not one would live, unless Salazar chose one to allow one to live to tell the tale. And now that Jack Sparrow was dead, less pirates need be left alive. The only reason Salazar let any pirate live now was because he wanted his presence known. To make the pirates still left fear him once more, as they had decades ago, and not know when they would be the next to die. And right now, since he had already let one sniveling pirate live the previous day, Salazar was not willing to let one more pirate roam free until they entered new territory.

"Sir, there is something in the water!" An armless man called out, once the pirates had been dispatched of.

"Land!" Officer Moss added in a panicked shout.

Salazar kept the _Silent Mary_ a safe distance from the land, but he and his men did not mistake the sight of what appeared to be several women swimming near shore, a few giving them curious glances.

"What are they doing?" One headless ghost asked, though the slight shift in the way his body was positioned indicated he was now facing away from the sight.

"They are indecent. Where are their clothes?" Another ghost asked, his words leaving him at the sight of one woman half lifting herself out of the water.

Silence reigned on the _Silent Mary_ at the realization that the woman's chest was bare, and only long, tangled hair kept what was beneath hidden, unless she shifted and-

"Detener que a la vez*!" Lesaro said sharply, as he slapped down a spyglass one man had lifted, and gave the officer an admonishing one-eyed glare. Lesaro's attention was diverted from the hapless ghost cringing before the lieutenant when one woman swam away from the others, and approached the ship with an eerie grace.

The moment the woman caught sight of Salazar and his crew up close, however, she became less pretty as she suddenly bared sharp teeth and let out an alarmed hiss. With a flash of a long, finned torso, she propelled herself away from the ship.

Mermaids.

Salazar and his crew were seeing _mermaids_ , yet another myth of the sea none of them had ever given any weight to.

"She was beautiful, until those fangs." Santos commented into the continued silence.

"It appears as though the feeling is mutual upon seeing us as we are." Salazar, recovering from the madness of the sight, wheezed out a disbelieving laugh. He guided the _Silent Mary_ further away from the land and the mermaids still swimming gracefully through the water, though now a safe distance from the ship. The cursed Spanish captain wondered what other fanciful sights he and his crew were going to come across as they continued to sail in their still fruitless search of a way to end their curse.

Salazar looked out toward the horizon, away from the mermaids, and knew, as he had since he'd been trapped in the Devil's Triangle, that he would overcome this fate he and his crew had been dealt, no matter what the cost.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

A/N: To those of you who are interested on a whole story about Salazar and his crew trying to find a way to lift the curse on them, I decided to just continue it on this fic instead of starting a new one and having to recap the whole thing.

I apparently couldn't resist, thinking about the what-if's (and really, any time someone wants to see more of a story, I'm usually going to oblige, so thanks to _dapper-teacup_ (and a reviewer over on Ao3) for launching me headfirst into deciding to continue this with your comments).

I will try to make the characters as IC as possible, though only Salazar seemed to get character development (in the novelization as well), to a point, and kind of Lesaro. The way the whole crew, Salazar and Lesaro included, behave/act in this fic is my take on them. It took months but I finally got hit with an obsession for these characters after repeatedly watching of the movie on DVD, so this fic is likely going to be very self-indulgent.

*Detener que a la vez (supposedly translates as 'stop that at once'-correct me if I'm wrong, please).

I'd love to slip more Spanish words in here and there, but again, with rough translations, I don't want to terribly butcher the language, so I'll try and limit them.


	3. No Rest for the Weary

A/N: ...I may be a just a _bit_ obsessed with this fic and the characters, but that helps a lot with writing, as does knowing that people are interested in reading more, so here's another chapter!

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

The cost of continuing on after death and being cursed appeared to involve being forced to endure long stretches of time where no one, living or dead, came into the sight of the _Silent Mary's_ crew.

Salazar, for one, despised these dry spells, for he could do nothing but dwell on what could have been. To think back on the dead Sparrow, and how Salazar longed to be able to stab the damned pirate again, to make him die a second time. To make the Sparrow pay again for all of the agony that the cursed Spanish captain continued to endure.

None of the crew dared to engage their captain during these quiet times, apart from Lesaro and a few other brave souls, who could stand to get close to their pacing captain. Careful tact was taken, because Salazar would occasionally dig and dig the tip of his rapier hard into the deck, apparently unaware that he was further damaging his own ship, as lost as the cursed man was in his mind. But from the hatred that crossed Salazar's face, none dared point out the marks that littered the deck where their captain drove his blade down.

-x-x-x-

Salazar found the early morning to be like any other, although the storm clouds overhead that followed his ship blocked out the sun, indicating the cursed man's mood.

Dark and pained. Frustrated beyond belief.

 _Tap. Tap. Thunk!_

Salazar drove the tip of his blade into the deck beside him. With narrowed eyes on the horizon, the cursed Spanish captain irritably jerked his head to get his hair to stop floating in his line of sight. What looked at first to be the sight of a pirate ship to run down turned out to be a rock instead.

 _A rock._

A blood filled wheeze of disappointment escaped Salazar's lips as his hands wrapped tightly about the hilt of his blade and the wheel of the ship.

It was one thing to be trapped in the Devil's Triangle, unable to escape. It was another thing entirely to have the whole sea be open to exploration, and yet find nothing.

-x-x-x-

Another week passed by at a crawl, as no Jolly Rogers had been sighted, and therefore, there was nothing for the crew of the _Silent Mary_ to do. The most that had been found in the past week were shipwrecks and only the fully dead or bones were ever located upon those discoveries. This meant that the _Silent Mary_ and her crew continued to sail onward, no real destination in mind apart from locating clues to reverse their curse.

A sense of sadness and pain seemed to settle in on those aboard the battered ship as the days went by. The mood always became bleak when they were not actively engaged, whether it be running down pirates, or pouring over sea charts. There was no one in sight, living or dead, and Salazar and his men could do nothing but converse with one another, wander the decks of the _Mary,_ or stare out to sea silently. The tales the ghosts had to tell had been told so many times that they no longer drew as much entertainment as they once had. As such, a few of the lower rung cursed ghosts, as well as some of the officers, took it into their dead hands to find their own forms of amusement, lest they suffocate in the gloomy mood of their ship.

Officer Moss was admonished quite a few times by Lesaro for sneaking up on unsuspecting fellow officers, and popping up out of the deck of the ship or through a wall, startling the intended target. A good deal of surprise and a few oaths emitted from those affected, but then all who were involved shared a laugh over the absurdity of dead men being able to be frightened.

No one dared do anything so improper in front of their captain, lest the limping ghost catch sight of them, and decide to try and do something about it. Not that much could be done to them in this state, much to their captain's ire, though mainly it was because the crew could not tidy themselves or the ship up, no matter how hard they tried.

Lesaro pretended not to notice the antics of the men most of the time, as the one-eyed ghost figured anything to keep their, well, _spirits_ , up was a good, whether or not it was a proper thing to do.

In fact, the lieutenant had just now witnessed Officer Moss phase out from a cabin in the gloom of the night, and dragged one of the other officers through it, which resulted in a startled cry from the other ghost, accompanied by a hollow laugh. Lesaro noted that his captain's head had turned sharply to one side, as if hearing the scream, and the telltale thump of cane against deck meant that he was going to investigate the matter. Knowing that his captain's mood was likely to be poor after days of nothing to occupy him, Lesaro was almost relieved when a shout came from the stern of the ship.

" _Capitan_! There is a ship to starboard. She just rose out of the waters, sir!" A pause. "She is sailing toward us."

At the sight of the other ship making as if to collide with them, Lesaro frantically turned the wheel over and over, so as to avoid said collision. Lesaro knew full well that the _Mary_ could take the strike and still sail, but the lieutenant also knew that Salazar would go further mad if the _Silent Mary_ took any more damage than her already battered hull had taken. The one-eyed ghost kept the _Silent Mary_ carefully parallel to the other ship, and awaited his captain's orders, as did the rest of the crew, who were eyeing the ship that had risen out of the waters with expressions ranging from worry to hope to fear.

-x-x-x-

There were no colors being flown that night, none that he could see, anyway, but Salazar was no fool. Even he had heard tales of the _Flying Dutchman_ , and how it ferried the souls of dead sailors from this life to the next. Salazar rasped out a chuckle at the very thought; no one was taking him anywhere. He might be dead, but he still wasn't ready to give up the hope of reversing his curse and becoming a living man once more.

Salazar caught sight of movement on the deck of the ship, but first chose to run a critical eye over the ship. It was displeasing to see such a ship covered in what appeared to be seaweed and other manner of sea life, and no part of the ship appeared to have escaped the seas watery touch. Even the rigging was covered in mussels and other sea life. Salazar grimaced at the offensive sight, and even if the ship _had_ come from underwater, it didn't look like anyone bothered to keep the ship clean in years, and instead had chosen to let the sea have its way with it.

"Sir, there is someone there."

Salazar saw the man in question even as one of his crew had spoken up. Salazar looked the man over, and found him to be as equally unkempt as the ship he stood on. Upon even closer inspection, the man appeared to be grief stricken, for whatever reason, and it showed in his haggard appearance. His posture was slumped, and his expression looked worn out beneath the cloth tied over his brow, long unkempt hair rolling down to his shoulders. Black blood oozed from the corner of Salazar's lips as he peeled it back in distaste at the sight of what looked like barnacles on the side of the man's face. Salazar's own horrific appearance he chose to not contemplate at this point in time. Salazar cast a brief glance around for other people on board, before the cursed Spanish captain decided that perhaps the man that stood before him on the other ship had ordered any others to stay back.

"Are you responsible for killing Jack and sinking the _Black Pearl?_ " Hard eyes bored into Salazar's dead ones as the rough voice rose from the man.

" _Si_ , it was I." Salazar tapped his cane on the deck as a ragged wheeze rose from his lips. He would never deny killing a pirate for any reason. "I had my men sink the pirate's ship, after I got my revenge on the Sparrow, who had condemned us to this hell that we are forced to live. Revenge for being trapped in the Devil's Triangle for decades."

"My name is Will Turner, and I am cursed to be the captain of the _Flying Dutchman_." The man said, seeming to ignore Salazar's justification for his actions. The _Dutchman's_ captain's voice was rough with pain and sadness, yet an underlying anger seeped in as he continued. "When you sunk that ship, you took the life of my son, who had gone to sea in search of a way to free me from my curse."

"The _Flying Dutchman_ is a pirate vessel, is it not?"

"There could be arguments made for either way." Will responded, but before he could get another word in, a defiant shout echoed from the depths of the _Flying Dutchman._

"We're pirates, you navy bastard! Go crawl into another dark hole and stay there!"

Lesaro, standing a few paces away from his captain, shifted and let out an inaudible sigh as he covered his face with a hand, knowing what was going to happen. Already he knew that if he looked upon Salazar, that his captain would have gone rigid from the insult, and was no doubt, from the audible grinding of teeth and various wheezes, working himself up over the words. Lesaro dropped his hand to his side and looked up to the heavens when his captain started to speak again. The longer Salazar spoke, the more Lesaro believed his captain to be digging a deeper hole for all aboard the _Silent Mary_ as he became careless with his words, spurred on by the impertinent insult shouted at him.

"The son of a pirate is of no loss then. All pirates will all be eradicated from the sea, sooner or later." Salazar said cruelly, even as he coughed up some blood. With a hiss of annoyance at the unfortunate timing, and at the disgust that rose within him over the blood running down to his chin, Salazar paced the side of his ship, cane tapping against the deck, his eyes on Will, "Any man who would willingly sail with a pirate and not kill him deserves to die. Especially one who would associate with that Sparrow."

" _Capitan._.." Lesaro interjected urgently, breaking from his post to stand in his captain's path. The surprised murmurs of the rest of the crew the lieutenant ignored, his focus on his captain. Lesaro could remain quiet no longer, knowing what was likely going to come of his captain's words to the _Flying Dutchman's_ captain. When Salazar came to an abrupt halt, and scowled at him, Lesaro forged on, his words whispered and hurried. "Please, _captian,_ think what it is that you are saying. That man's son is dead by our doing, and yet he holds the power to let us be rid of this curse of ours. To let us be at rest, no longer forced to roam the seas with no end in sight."

"You would seek help from a pirate, lieutenant?" Salazar grated harshly, not bothering to keep his words quiet in return. Salazar did not count travelling with the pirate Barbossa on his ship an alliance, but merely a means to an end to locate Jack. Salazar would have killed them all, and only left the captain alive, as Salazar was a man of his word, and would have left Barbossa to live to tell the tale.

"Not all of the men will last, sir. Some of them despair that they will be forever locked into these dead bodies of ours. Forced to be in pain at all times, missing limbs as even more pieces start to crumble away." Lesaro caught sight of Will staring at them, and had a sinking feeling that his captain's words had sealed whatever mercy the captain of the _Flying Dutchman_ might have given them. "You would deny rest to those of us who are weary of this existence?"

"They wish to be dead, instead of finding a way to live again?" Salazar rasped, taking one step forward to be within a foot of Lesaro, anger coursing through him at his lieutenant stepping out of line to scold him. "And what of yourself, lieutenant? Do you wish to die as well?"

"No, _capitan._ " Lesaro met Salazar's furious stare with a calm one of his own. "You know that I will follow you anywhere, sir. I was merely expressing what others can not. Not every man aboard the _Silent Mary_ can handle this kind of life we are living."

"They doubt me?" Salazar asked, his voice dropping to a harsh whisper, blood freely dripping out of his mouth as he glowered at the cursed man before him. "Doubt that we will find a way to be free of this hell?"

"We all have out doubts, sir, but it is the hope of living and stepping foot on land once more that keeps many going." Lesaro did not move from where he stood, even as his captain's face came within an inch of his own. "But you must know, _capitan_ , that not every man aboard this vessel has as strong a will as yours, to push past the pain and continue onward." That seemed to placate the other man, and Lesaro was relieved when Salazar took a step back and looked away, leaning heavily on his cane as if in thought. The lieutenant couldn't always be sure when his captain would chose to listen to his words, but it appeared to have worked this time around. Lesaro chanced a glance over at Will, but unfortunately, from the expression on the other man's face, Lesaro knew that no mercy would be extended to the few men aboard the _Mary_ who were stretched to their limits.

"I didn't come here to ferry your souls." Will Turner confirmed Lesaro's assumptions. "I merely came to confirm what I felt was true. I will take no pity on a man who will blindly kill. One who kills even those who are not pirates." Will turned away from the _Silent Mary_. "I cannot stand the number of children I've had to help cross over. Those ships you carelessly sunk in the Devil's Triangle were more than just pirate vessels. Many souls were trapped within the Triangle until you were released, and the influx of those coming to me for aid...the number of children..."

Salazar frowned at this, not recalling ever having found any indication of children while in the Triangle. It had been very dark, however, so it could have been feasible that when destroying ships with the _Mary's_ hull, instead of invading the ship and killing its occupants, that there could very well have been children within its cabins. A brief feeling of despair and white hot rage washed over the cursed Spanish captain, because Salazar hunted pirates. Destroyed those that tainted the seas. He never would have allowed children to be killed. He would have sent them on their way out of the Devil's Triangle, to be out of cursed waters before they themselves became cursed, and trapped to the same fate as Salazar and his men...

" _Capitan_...the ship..." Santos called out, pointing. The rest of the crew watched as the _Flying Dutchman_ began to submerge beneath the waves.

Salazar raised his head, leaving behind troubling thoughts of those he and his men had killed over the decades within the Devil's Triangle, to meet the _Dutchman's_ captain's eyes.

"You may some day be free of your curse, but until then, do not expect me to ferry you or your men from this world while you are dead. " The water was up to Will's waist now, yet as he turned to look away, Will never looked back on the man responsible for his son's death. "You might never be free of the curse either, and so you will never rest. Nor will I, carrying the pain of knowing that my only son is dead."

The _Flying Dutchman_ submerged the rest of the way beneath the water, and Salazar shook his head at he sudden sound of splashes. Again, Salazar found that his lieutenant's words rang true; some of the men aboard the Silent Mary were reaching their breaking point. Free of the Devil's Triangle's darkness, yet unable to step foot on land. Salazar limped away from the side of the ship, highly doubting that the captain of the _Flying Dutchman_ would do anything for the men who had just jumped ship, crying out for mercy to be taken on them.

"... _Adios_." Salazar muttered under his breath, his voice now quiet. He knew that the three men who had jumped ship and disappeared beneath the waves were going to try and seek mercy from the _Flying Dutchman's_ captain. They were unlikely to find it, and would no doubt go the way a few others of the crew had gone these past three years and counting.

To land.

To a painful second death, but one that carried the promise of release from their cursed existence.

With an aggravated strike of cane against the deck Salazar could tell that while those faithful to his command remained, there was little doubt that this encounter had seriously demoralized them all. To be forced to continue to endure their curse, and have no way to end it, apart from committing suicide by going onto dry land. It was their only option now, as the captain of the _Flying Dutchman_ had made it clear that he would not ferry their souls to the afterlife.

They were trapped, not living yet not entirely dead.

Trapped, and yet free, free to sail wherever they wished, though unable to make port.

As Salazar took the helm, he did not look to where his lieutenant went to stand. No one spoke as the cursed Spanish captain steered the ship back in the direction they had been headed. There was nothing to say. Not after that exchange. Salazar had nothing to offer his men but empty repeated assurances that they would eventually be rewarded for all that they had done to rid the world of pirates.

On that night, the crew of the _Silent Mary_ knew that they had lost the one surefire way to be rescued from the hell they were living. But they would press on, still loyal to their captain as they clung to the hope that there was something else in that world that would be able to either end their curse, and them in the process. Or better yet, free them from the curse entirely so that they could live again.

-x-x-x-

There was a brief break in the melancholic atmosphere that came some two days later, in the form of dolphins. These dolphins were living ones, and their playful leaps from the water near the _Silent Mary_ drew the crew to one side of the ship. Unlike the mermaids, the playful mammals didn't seem to care about the appearance of the ghosts on the ship who were watching them.

Had Salazar a beating heart, it may have ached at the sight of his crew laughing and smiling at the antics of the dolphins. They had very little to be happy about these days, so it was a rare sight to be witness to. Salazar remained at the helm, looking away from his crew to the endless sea before him, lost in thought until his shoulder was lightly tapped by a hesitant hand. Salazar half turned to regard his lieutenant, who held his cane up against his chest. It was the first time since the _Flying Dutchman_ had vanished beneath the waves that Lesaro had engaged with him.

"There has to be a way to lift this curse." Salazar said at length, staring at the cane his lieutenant held. "A way that does not involve us departing from this world. We do not need some pirate's assistance to be freed of this curse."

"It seemed like that man may have already made up his mind before coming to us." Lesaro hedged, holding out the cane in his captain's direction.

"I am not going to lose faith in being alive once more. I would not have departed this life, even if that pirate had offered it." Salazar said, glancing down at the wheel he had his hands clasped around.

"We will have to find a way, _capitan_. It is all we have left now that the _Dutchman's_ captain refuses to aid us."

Salazar slipped into a series of indecipherable Spanish, knowing that the other man wanted him to acknowledge that it was his own words that had made things worse. But he couldn't. Wouldn't. Salazar didn't want to think that he had denied rest to those who truly couldn't continue on, yet couldn't bring themselves to take their own lives on dry land. It irked Salazar to no end that Lesaro merely waited until he had no more words to say and visibly deflated, the anger leaving him for the time being. Salazar briefly glanced Lesaro's way, before he lowered his head, and allowed his hair to float across his face as he spoke, "Perhaps we will speak of these things later?

"And while speaking of those things, perhaps include a discussion on tact, sir?" Lesaro kept a smile hidden when he caught an angry eye peering through the floating hair and continued on. "I know you wish all pirates to be gone, but don't let that get in the way of allowing the men on this ship to find a way to be at peace." Lesaro pressed his captain's cane into his hand, and gently nudged Salazar away from the wheel, when the cursed man said nothing in return. "Try to find some pleasure in this existence of ours, _capitan,_ apart from hunting pirates, or you'll only despair more."

Salazar moodily tapped his cane against the deck, but merely nodded to his lieutenant, and limped across the deck to join his men lined along the starboard railing, watching the dolphins frolic. Salazar thought the display would only anger him, but instead, a kind of calm washed over him. These creatures had not a care in the world, and only seemed to be leaping out of the water for the benefit of Salazar and his men. There didn't seem to be any other explanation for the behavior, nor the curious whistles and clicks that came from the dolphins as they leapt in and out of the water very close to the broken hull of the _Mary_. Even after the dolphins had moved on, further away from the ship, Salazar tracked them, a kind of longing making itself known to him. He didn't look away even as Lesaro came to stand alongside him, Officer Magda having taken over standing at the helm.

"Not a bad sight, is it, sir?" Lesaro chanced, tracking the dolphins' departure as well. "Not every being in the sea has so much joy in life than those dolphins do."

"No, _mi amigo_ , it is not a bad sight at all." Salazar turned away from the sea once the dolphins had swam out of sight. The cursed Spanish captain briefly clapped his lieutenant on the left shoulder before Salazar limped back toward the helm, his voice echoing something close to wistfulness, "Maybe we will see them again, eh?"

"Perhaps, sir."

Salazar didn't doubt that he and his crew would continue to come across various sea-life, but to come across something that would help them be rid of their curse? It remained to be seen if such a thing existed.

-x-x-x-x-x-

A/N:There's quite a lot of Lesaro and Salazar exchange, but I like to think that they discuss things a lot, and that Lesaro is the only one who can call out his captain and not get into too much trouble for it. Especially after they are dead (and dolphins are around in the western seas, aren't they? I just wanted the _Silent Mary_ crew to have a bit of a break from being depressed about being cursed).

(Also, from the few appearances of Officer Moss, I got the feeling that he was a trouble maker just from his expressions but otherwise did his job so he could get away with it. Someone's got to lighten up the atmosphere and what better way than to scare your crewmates even though you're all dead? Also, despite appearances, I feel that Lesaro would be better at negotiations than Salazar, and be less apt to have people killed or insulting and/or angering those who could help you while doing said negotiations. I suppose it depends on the situation-Salazar probably would have an easier time with fellow Spaniards and not pirates).


	4. Seagulls and Sparring

A/N: Hello again. I've very clearly lost my mind over these characters but hey, more story for you to read at a more frequent basis, right? This is a mostly self-indulgent chapter before it ends up going dark toward the end (plot reasons for future chapters).

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Another long and empty day passed by at a crawl for the crew of the _Silent Mary_ , to match the past several days that had gone by similarly with nothing but an open sea stretching before them. It was becoming more commonplace for the crew to come across no living souls for days on end, which meant those empty days were filled with nothing but the sight of one another. Clues had yet to be gleaned about a way to end their curse, and there would be no rest for any of them until that way was found. For the captain of the _Flying Dutchman,_ who could grant them release from their torment, had let it be known he would do no such thing.

Armando Salazar, the _Silent Mary's_ captain, had sealed his fate and that of his crew with his own words, to be doomed to sail the seas forever as they grasped for a freedom that was currently beyond their reach.

With one way to be at rest gone, there was nothing to occupy the _Silent Mary's_ crew but to dwell on what could have been, and what could be, should they find some clue as to how to end their curse. There were, however, some things to be done on the _Mary_ while they waited and watched for anything to be used to their advantage. As the broken and battered _Silent Mary_ sailed unimpeded through rolling waves, it could be seen that there were some men currently making yet another futile attempt to clean the ship. Ignoring their blown apart appearances for the time being, the ghostly men scrubbed away at the deck beneath them, though their efforts would forever be in vain.

 _Skreee!_

The other thing to be done on the _Mary,_ while the crew whiled away time alternately keeping a lookout for telltale Jolly Rogers, or any leads regarding their curse, was to deal with the seagulls that hovered over the _Silent Mary_. No ideas had come to mind, so the crew left the screeching creatures overhead to their captain. Salazar appeared to hold some sway over the dead birds, as he had over the decaying sharks he had sent after Jack Sparrow years ago.

The birds were a motley assortment of tattered feathers and missing pieces of their bodies, and were otherwise stuck in a decaying state. It normally wouldn't be a bother, having those birds soar overhead, as they had for decades in the Devil's Triangle. But when they were finally free of it, the seagulls seemed to become more active, and even began to harass Salazar's men again as they had in the beginning of their death in the Triangle. The seagulls would suddenly swoop in with a broken-sounding cry from a mangled beak, and pluck a hat from the head of an officer. Or they would hover after the crew, and make a general nuisance of themselves. The crew had, for the most part, come to terms with their feathered, nearly skeletal companions, and merely picked up the hat where it had been dropped, or retrieved whatever else it was that the gulls may have briefly absconded with.

Salazar had had quite enough of it, and set about making an attempt to get the creatures to behave. Today was a good a day as any, as he had nothing better to do other than think dark thoughts about the state of his ship and crew. As the cursed captain limped across the deck to engage with some of the dead gulls, Salazar didn't realize he was being watched. His crew did not dare to point out that the beasts had little intelligence, so for their captain to make an attempt to reason with the birds as if they had human intelligence would be a thankless and likely infuriating task.

Lesaro kept to the helm as his captain passed him by, cane tapping against the deck as Salazar made his way to a group of gulls. These particular ones were preening their feathers on their frozen, falling apart bodies, a feather floating down now and again. The lieutenant couldn't help but crack a small smile at the sight.

Salazar shooed the seagulls away from the railing with a wave of his cane, muttering crossly in Spanish when the gulls merely alighted back on the railing further away. With what almost sounded like mocking calls from the seagulls, the birds resumed their preening. Salazar made a few more attempts before he tired of the game, as the gulls merely continued to settle a few feet away, apparently finding the cursed Spanish captain a nuisance themselves. Salazar leveled an icy glare at the birds for being so impertinent, when one of the braver, or perhaps stupider, gulls dared to flutter overhead. With almost careful precision, the gull dared to take a strand of hair from Salazar's head into its beak with an eerie screech.

The dead seagull looked entirely too pleased with itself as it let go and floated just out of reach of the cursed Spanish captain's hand when the limb rose as if to brush the bird away.

Salazar ground his teeth at the apparent mocking, and despite knowing that the birds weren't actively trying to drive him mad, the fact that a few chose to hover over him now and pluck at his floating hair did nothing to improve his mood. So, with a few half-skeletal birds hovering after him, Salazar limped toward the cabins, thinking to escape from the madness for a time. With a wheeze and cough of black blood, Salazar half-turned, his back to the cabin door in order to observe the sea for a brief moment.

Nothing was there.

With Salazar's attention on the sea, he failed to notice, or sense, the ghostly cracked hands that phased out of the cabin wall behind him, followed by a grinning ghost, one Officer Moss.

Moss, who had grown bored of the past few days of inactivity, had decided that today was they day he would go about trying to scare fellow crew-mates again. He made two mistakes then and there. The first was by not seeing who it was he had grabbed from behind. The second was not heeding the horrified looks on the other ghosts' faces within the vicinity as he pulled his victim for the day backward through the cabin wall.

Yet when Moss let go and heard a blade being drawn, he knew something had gone very wrong. Moss thought to get out of sight, yet he was was pinned in place with baleful eyes that burned into him as a rapier rose between himself and a wheezing ghost.

Salazar.

Officer Moss had accidentally pulled his captain through a cabin wall, and from the look on his captain's face, and the bared teeth with black blood, there was no good reason he could offer for his actions. So, with a nervous laugh that sounded like a hiss, Moss spoke what came to mind.

 _"Hola, capitan._ Ah _...beunos dias?"_ Moss was babbling at this point, only getting himself into further trouble with every word he spoke _, "Como estas hoy?"_

Had Officer Moss had a beating heart, it would have raced at the snarl that implanted itself on his captain's face. Apparently Salazar was already in a very poor mood and Moss had ended up only making it worse.

" _C..capitan_.. _.l...lo siento._ " Moss stammered as his captain loomed closer, blade still drawn.

-x-x-x-

Silence reigned on the deck, with Lesaro looking upward at the heavens while the rest of the crew looked to be torn between horror and amusement, though they dared not laugh. All aboard the _Silent Mary_ knew that their captain would not take kindly to Officer Moss's chosen form of entertainment.

Lesaro was quick to leave the helm, and not bothering with the door, merely walked through the cabin wall. Quickly assessing the situation, the lieutenant none to subtly placed himself between Officer Moss and a highly displeased, wheezing Salazar brandishing his rapier.

Salazar, who had been speaking harshly in rapid Spanish, had had to briefly stop now and again to wheeze and cough out black blood, which had caused Moss to flinch back, before the tirade began anew.

" _Capitan?"_ Lesaro interrupted the scolding his captain was giving Officer Moss. _"_ I believe I mentioned to you yesterday, sir, that the men had not much to do these past many years?" Lesaro remained calm even as his captain's angry glare turned to him. Lesaro tactfully did not point out the black blood pooling around his captains' mouth, nor the way it was dripping down, giving him a more ghastly appearance.

"Dragging officers through the wall is not an appropriate form entertainment." Salazar hissed in return. "They are not boys, lieutenant. Scaring the other officers with this curse of ours is not right. What happened to the order on this vessel?"

"What else would you have them do, sir?" Lesaro said, still calm as his eye met Salazar's own, "We have nothing, _capitan_ , nothing to engage with on the _Mary_ apart from each other. We cannot tell one another stories any longer, for we have all heard them one too many times to derive any enjoyment out of them. There is nothing to do but stare out to sea, or walk across the decks of the _Silent Mary,_ wishing that we were free of this curse of ours."

"That is no excuse to be acting as he has." Salazar pointed his rapier at Officer Moss, who shrank back against the cabin wall, looking very much like he would love for the floor swallow him up. Which, technically, could happen, should he allow his body to sink through to the deck below. But with his captain's furious stare once more on him, Moss appeared to be frozen through sheer intimidation alone, fearing what Salazar intended to do with him.

" _Capitan_ , there is no harm done. Let the men find ways to amuse themselves, sir, lest we all go mad." Lesaro stated, bringing his captain's attention back to him, which allowed Officer Moss time to realize that he could slip away. The officer quickly did so by phasing out the wall of the cabin behind him.

Salazar made as if to walk past Lesaro, but stilled when his lieutenant reached over and gently halted him with a hand on his shoulder.

"Please, _capitan_. Do not punish the crew for trying to find ways to make this curse of ours bearable."

Salazar's jaw set, clearly not liking the fact that order was slipping away aboard the _Silent Mary_. Salazar tapped his rapier against the deck in thought, silent, before a wheezing sigh escaped his lips as as his head dipped in a jerky nod. The cursed captain's free hand reached up to stubbornly, if futilely, remove the black blood from his lips.

"Pirates starboard!" A shout echoed from outside of the cabin.

Salazar's attention was instantly diverted, and he limped out of the cabin, shouting orders in Spanish, and sounding quite pleased that there was a hunt to be had.

Lesaro remained in the cabin for a short time, relieved over his captain's obsession to hunt pirates, as it made Salazar set aside Officer Moss' actions for the time being in favor of chasing down a pirate ship. Lesaro exited the cabin to await his captain's orders, and vaguely thought to speak with Officer Moss later, to warn the man to make certain that if he were going to continue his antics, to be sure that it was not their captain he was trying to startle.

-x-x-x-

The _Silent Mary_ closed in on the pirate chip, a slightly bigger vessel than they had come across the past few months. These particular pirates were a bit better in terms of fighting, because they did not immediately fall to the blades of Salazar's men. Instead, the priates fought like the devil to try and avoid being slashed or stabbed by the apparitions they saw before them.

Officer Moss, for one, was actually relieved to have something to fight, because he was having a hard time shaking off his captain's furious expression and equally angry words over his actions earlier.

"You are still in one piece." A voice stated, a hint of amusement mixed in with the words. "I thought for sure the _capitan_ was going to try and find a way to deal with what could be insubordination."

Officer Moss turned from a pirate he'd just stabbed to fix a frown on the speaker, Officer Santos. Moss let out a soft scoff as he went after another pirate, Santos keeping pace with him. "It is not my fault that the _capitan_ has no appreciation for humor."

"He doesn't have much appreciation of anything apart from a blade across a pirate's throat." Santos replied, as he pivoted and took a pirate down with a perfectly timed downward slash, blood blossoming from the wound as the grievously injured pirate hit the deck. Ignoring the dying scream, Santos brought his attention back to his fellow officer. "Do you think that killing these pirates will make him overlook your actions?"

"Why are you bringing this up now?" Moss demanded as he back-stepped out of the way of a braver pirate who was actually fighting back, "I thought you said you didn't care what I did so long as I didn't stick my hand through that hole in your abdomen again?" Moss had accidentally stuck an arm through the hole in Santos' abdomen some years ago when dragging his fellow officer through a wall, and Santos had not taken to the sight of an arm through his body well.

"Perhaps I would like to converse with you one last time before the _capitan_ gets a hold of you." Santos blocked another pirate's sloppy attack, parrying the living man's blade a few times before running him through.

"We are dead, _amigo_." Moss grumbled as he finished off the pirate in front of him off with a blade through the heart. "What could the _capitan_ possibly do to any of us, apart from yell and scare us with all of that black blood that comes out of his mouth?"

"Do not let him hear you say that." Santos cautioned as he looked around to see how the rest of the crew was faring against the pirates. "He will not take kindly to a reminder of the strike to his head and the troubles it still causes him in death." Santos lowered his gaze briefly to his middle, before looking away from it, clearly uncomfortable seeing it.

"Your face isn't as badly cracked as mine is." Officer Moss said, waving the hand not holding the blade at his face.

"I have some cracks. Those explosions didn't leave many of us untouched." Santos thwacked Moss' shoulder with the flat of his blade. "And you should notbe complaining in the least because your clothes are very much in tact. Be happy you are not Juan."

Moss shook his head at the very thought, "Shame he only has a hand and hat left." There was a pause as a hint of mischief crossed Officer Moss' face. "I wonder if I could drag him through a wall."

"You might get a laugh out of him, for the mere fact that you would be dragging a near invisible man through a wall." Santos brought up his blade. "On your left."

Moss brought his own sword up in response, blocking the swing of yet another pirate's blade. As Moss began to exchange parries with the yellowed grin of the pirate in his vision, the officer realized that the filthy individual actually believed he could defeat a ghost.

It was laughable, really.

Santos said something quietly in Spanish before he joined Moss by his side, lunging toward the pirate with practiced swings of his blade.

The two ghostly officers were taken aback that the pirate was holding his own against the two of them, parrying their blades as Moss and Santos took turns slashing at the living man. With an exchanged glance, the two ghosts began to press their attacks, getting closer and closer to nicking the pirate with each strike, and driving the pirate further across the deck of the now burning pirate galleon. Whenever the pirate launched an attack of his own, Officer Moss and Officer Santos stepped back out of range with practiced ease despite the fact that the blade would cause them no harm.

With one last look between them, Santos began to circle around the pirate, forcing the struggling man to try and parry both blades, which became increasingly difficult once Santos made it behind him. Boxed between the two ghosts, the pirate's swings became desperate as well as frantic as he struggled to stop swift strikes that came at him from both front and behind. It was clear that a few seconds of parrying blades from two different directions was wearing the pirate down.

Officer Moss spotted an opening some moments later, and broke through the pirate's now sloppy blocks to stab the man in the chest, as Santos brought the blade across the pirate's throat from behind and slit his throat. Moss tugged his blade free and with a sound of exasperation shoved the gurgling pirate over to choke on his own blood. Satisfied that the pirate would soon bleed out, Moss offered a grin to Santos over their teamwork.

"Behind you." Santos cautioned.

Moss started when a pirate, who had somehow managed to sneak up behind him, stabbed him. It didn't hurt the ghostly officer in the least bit, but the fact that it had been allowed to happen upset Moss enough that Santos was forced to step froward a few paces to strike the pirate down himself.

"At least we are dead so we cannot be harmed." Santos offered as he sheathed his blade.

"That would have been enough to kill me, were I still alive." Moss rattled back, still rather upset. Most unfortunately, Moss didn't realize that his captain had witnessed the misstep, and would soon address it, likely as part of a retaliation for Moss dragging him backward into a cabin earlier. His captain shouting from aft on the pirate ship for them to come to attention made Moss cringe and make a face.

"Don't let the _capitan_ see that expression either." Santos commented as he thumped the other man on the shoulder again as he walked by, going to stand with the other ghostly officers who were already standing at attention.

With a frown, Moss shuffled after his fellow officer, removing his hat as he did, half wondering why their captain even bothered with this anymore. Not one of them, including Officer Moss, dared to ask Salazar his reason. They merely followed his orders, and waited patiently as Salazar prowled up and down the line, rapier sharply tapping against the deck.

"Straighten that line." Salazar ordered as he moved along, wheezing his displeasure over the tattered and broken appearance of his crew.

The ghosts complied as much as they were able to, though there was not much they could do to clean up any of their appearances, what with their shattered appearances and missing limbs. Even in death Salazar had high standards, and none could be met in their cursed state. He had to have known it, but chose to ignore the facts, as he had to have some semblance of control.

Reaching out now and again to straighten the clothes on his crew, Salazar finally came to halt before Moss, leaning against his rapier as he looked the other ghost dead in the eye.

"I will not tolerate a pirate getting the best of one of my officers." Ignoring the beginning of a protest from Officer Moss, Salazar turned to Lesaro, who had come to stand by his side. "Once we have returned to the _Silent Mary_ , all of the crew will practice. Death should not be a cause for sloppiness or rusty skills, despite nothing able to harm us but dry land."

"I was doing well before you saw that." Moss muttered rebelliously, visibly sulking, though he quieted once he noticed that his captain had half-turned to regard him. Salazar's expression all but dared him to continue.

"Please do not argue with the _capitan_." Santos murmured to Moss. "It would be good to spar and brush up on our skills."

"That pirate was able to sneak up on me." Moss murmured, still displeased with himself. "I should have noticed his approach."

Santos waited until their captain made a motion for them all to leave the pirate ship and return to the _Mary_. As the crew followed after their captain in a ghostly wave of missing limbs and floating clothes, Santos patted Moss' shoulder lightly, not saying anything, yet conveying that he understood his fellow officer's frustrations. Once the crew was back on their own ship, Lesaro wasted no time in issuing his captain's order.

"To the downed mast. We will gather there." Lesaro stepped aside to allow some of the crew to drift where directed, and soon, they reached the middle of the _Silent Mary_ , near the broken mast that trailed in the water.

"I presume the _capitan_ will watch us, and not take part in practicing blade-work." Moss grumbled.

"Did you say something, Officer Moss?" Lesaro questioned as he walked down the stairs to join the rest of the crew.

"No lieutenant." Moss cringed at the one eyed glare he received in return, indicating that Lesaro must have heard him. Moss went back to sulking, and even with Officer Santos' repeated whispers of reassurance, Moss couldn't' help but feel singled out. The ghost wondered if it had anything to do with catching his captain unaware and dragging him through the cabin wall earlier.

It was very likely.

"Back up there. Move." Salazar ordered as he limped down the stairs, before he launched into a series of instructions in Spanish as he stood in the loose ring that had formed on the deck. With a quick glance around at his men, Salazar zeroed in on Moss, and beckoned the officer forward. A few murmurs went around the gathered ghosts, and Moss stood rooted to the spot, not sure if he had heard his captain correctly. Surely he didn't want him to fight-

"Officer Moss." Salazar let out a coughing wheeze, blood dripping out of his mouth as he rasped out a few sharp words, rapier tapping against the deck impatiently as one word made it out past the garbled ones filled with blood. "Forward."

" _Si,_ _capitan_." Moss was not about to argue, even if he did draw his blade a bit reluctantly, displeased that it did seem as if he were being punished for his earlier actions. Officer Moss became nervous when Lesaro drew his own weapon at a nod from their captain.

Salazar circled the two ghostly men as they begin to exchange strikes, watching with sharp eyes for any errors. The cursed Spanish captain frowned when Santos joined in without being told to. Just as Salazar thought to order him back, he realized that when the other ghost was by Moss' side, the two officers appeared to become in tune with one another as they took turns launching attacks their lieutenant's way.

Lesaro compensated for the second officer by blocking and thrusting at intervals, doing his best to keep both of the men in front of him, and to not allow one to circle behind him.

As Moss and Santos drove Lesaro backward toward the broken mast, Santos broke point from Moss' side in order to get in behind their lieutenant. When Lesaro snapped his blade up to block a downward swing from Moss, it successfully drew his attention a second too long from Santos, allowing the officer to slip past him. Santos came in from behind Lesaro as he brought his blade from beneath Lesaro's right arm to bring the steel across the lieutenant's throat. In the same instant, Moss smacked Lesaro's blade to one side with a heavy strike as Santos gripped the lieutenant's left arm, Moss's blade tip lightly resting against Lesaro's chest.

The crew murmured appreciatively at the sight while Salazar nodded his approval. "It appears I may have misspoken about your skills being rusty. What then caused you to become caught unaware by a pirate?"

"I was too focused on killing the pirate, sir." Moss stepped away from Lesaro as he let his blade point down as Santos similarly released the lieutenant. Moss absently let his sword swing back and forth, before he added. "I should have held off celebrating our victory, to be certain that all the pirates were dead."

Salazar again nodded as he accepted the explanation, clearly understanding the need for victory. "Be that as it may, I still want to see every man practice for a time." Satisfied when he saw the crew begin to pair off with one another, Salazar sheathed his blade and, leaning against his cane for support, limped up to the helm. The cursed Spanish captain stopped short when he saw Lesaro standing before his with his blade still drawn.

"You should get some practice in as well, _capitan_." Lesaro indicated the helm with a vague wave of a hand. "There is no land is sight, so the _Mary_ can be left unattended for a time.

Salazar made his way over to one side of the deck in order to lean his cane against the railing. With a growl, Salazar forced his broken body to turn around despite the telltale sign of a hip daring to try to lock up on him. Wheezing out some blood in a humorless laugh at the state he was in, Salazar drew his rapier once more, and limped back toward his lieutenant. Raising his weapon, Salazar lightly tapped his blade against Lesaro's in acknowledgement of the other man's words, before awkwardly back-stepping and saluting his lieutenant.

Lesaro mirrored his captain's salute with one of his own, before he began to move, the two men circling one another with a quick strike of a blade here and there to test the waters. The two ghosts silently sized one another up for a few moments longer, neither noticing that the crew had left off what they were doing in order to watch the fight.

With a quick lunge forward, Salazar nearly struck Lesaro's side but the lieutenant quickly dropped his blade down to block the sudden strike.

"Well done." Salazar complimented, even as he moved in closer with a limping gait to land several strikes, steel ringing out against steel as Lesaro met each of his captain's attacks. The approval came and went as they exchanged blows, until finally, Salazar had no words left, as he was soon solely focused on trying to get through his lieutenant's defenses. Salazar didn't even bother to stop what he was doing when it became clear that the crew could no longer remain silent, and the cheering became audible, the ghostly crew clearly enjoying the sight of their captain and lieutenant locked in mock combat. Now and again the two would dance away from the other's strikes, though Lesaro's movements were more flowing compared to Salazar's jerkier and less graceful movements.

Salazar was a strong swordsman, but due to his broken body in death, and the way it hindered the movement of his legs, he had a hard time stepping out of range of Lesaro, who had no such handicap. Salazar wheezed his frustration as he ground his teeth and continued to parry Lesaro's weapon, heedless of the black blood that oozed out of his mouth. Salazar soon stumbled when one of his hips locked up on him, as he thought it might before. The cursed Spanish captain knew in that moment that Lesaro would take advantage of his moment of weakness, and acted accordingly. As Lesaro closed in, Salazar pivoted his body to the left, in order to miss Lesaro's swing, and his hand snapped up to grip the other man's left arm tight. With a practiced ease, Salazar tugged the limb behind his lieutenant's back as Salazar's right hand brought his rapier up to rest across Lesaro's throat.

All movement ceased on deck, the crew watching with great interest over what Lesaro would choose to do next.

Lesaro made as if to release his blade in surrender, but when Salazar moved back a bit to get better leverage, his right hand moved the blade away a fraction from the other ghost's throat. Lesaro wasted no time as he turned around and brought his sword up between himself and his captain, blade to Salazar's throat.

There was a tense stare-down between captain and lieutenant, before it was broken as a blade tip suddenly pressed against Salazar's back, diverting the wheezing ghosts' attention to those around him.

Magda had joined in while their captain's back had been to them all, and the ghostly officer stood there, his expression serious. What soon became apparent was that he wished to smile, especially when the rest of the crew laughed at the unexpected turn of events. It became just as quickly quiet, the whole crew of ghosts watching their captain nervously, as if hoping there would be no retribution for laughing. It wasn't every day they saw their captain at a disadvantage, and at the hands of his own crew at that.

"It seems everyone, myself included, needs more practice, eh?" Salazar let out a gurgling laugh, for once finding the situation amusing, which was a relief to the entire crew. The tense mood vanished in an instant, and the men began murmuring to one another about what they had just witnessed. Salazar lowered his rapier, and leaned against it as he forced his body into motion to face Magda. "Lieutenant, take the helm." Salazar said, his eyes still on the other officer.

At the sight of that glare through floating hair, Magda beat a hasty retreat, trying to find a better space to get into a fight with his captain. Eyes flashing, Salazar ground out a few choice words in Spanish before he limped in pursuit of the officer.

Lesaro sheathed his weapon and took the helm as ordered, though he did check behind him, and shook his head at the sight of his captain catching up to Officer Magda. Blade in hand, Salazar began exchange blows with the other ghost, obviously displeased over being caught unaware. Shaking his head once more, Lesaro looked away and focused on the seas before him.

At the very least, sparring was something that could take Salazar's mind off the thought of chasing down and killing more pirates. Lesaro felt that the day was going better, as the seas becoming calmer as they traveled, until a few hours later when everything began to go wrong. It was then that Lesaro began to note the fog that had begun to settle in around them, and though he knew that they were nowhere near the waters where they had witnessed the vision of Jack Sparrow alive, something about it was eerily similar. The further the _Silent Mary_ went into the fog, the more unnerved Lesaro became, and at the feeling of impending doom, felt it necessary to call his captain's attention to it.

" _Capitan_ , there is something...wrong."

Salazar was at the helm in an instant, having heard his lieutenant. Salazar took the other man seriously as he scoured the foggy sea and with a frown, began to question Lesaro.

"We are not in _those_ waters again, are we?" Salazar asked, referencing what Lesaro had been thinking about before.

"No, sir. We are far away from that." Lesaro stood aside to let his captain take the helm. "It...this all feels wrong. I am not sure what to make of it."

The crew had gathered nearby, and a few of them had begun to voice their unease as well.

"It almost seems colder."

"How can you tell?"

"Is this another cursed area of the sea?"

"We will chart another course." Salazar assured his crew.

"Sir, the fog is becoming denser." Lesaro called out in warning.

Salazar gripped the wheel tight, trying to will himself to be able to see through the fog, lest he run the ship aground and destroy everyone aboard, himself included. He sailed cautiously, turning the wheel hand over hand, and took the _Mary_ in a new direction.

Hopefully.

It was hard to tell if they were headed in another direction or not, mired in fog as they were. Salazar let out a sudden laugh, blood dripping freely from the corners of his mouth as he smiled, pleased when he spotted the fog beginning to thin. Carefully turning the _Silent Mary_ in that direction, Salazar guided the ship through the now thinning fog. A shadow seemed to flit through the fog, but it was hard to tell, until Salazar felt a solid _something_ pass him by, along with the unnerving sound of unfamiliar words spoken in a quiet yet sinister tone.

The fog suddenly lifted, and in its place, startlingly familiar scenery took its place.

Burning pirate ships in the sea surrounded them, and the sky was filled with smoke. And through that smoke, Salazar could make out one ship sailing just out of reach, toward a familiar rocky formation, the triangle shape ominous as it loomed ahead in the distance.

The Devil's Triangle.

Salazar heard himself shouting orders to follow the ship in, and found that he could do nothing but watch, trapped in his somehow living body, as the past suddenly began to unfold before his very eyes. And it appeared, from the frightened eyes of those he could see, his whole crew was experiencing what he was.

They were reliving their past by some unknown means, the breeze whipping past them and the smell of gunpowder in the air as vivid as it had been all those decades ago. Even though Salazar knew that he should have been frightened over this impossible vision, he couldn't help but be wistful at the sight of the _Silent Mary_ in her full glory, and he and his men whole and undamaged by explosions.

Uniform and perfect, as he liked it.

Yet as Salazar felt himself grip the wheel as the pirate ship Jack was on turned out of the way of the Devil's Triangle, Salazar didn't see Jack. He didn't see the younger pirate as he strut confidently across the deck of his ship, condemning the Spanish crew to a terrible fate.

All Salazar saw was death.

And as he felt his own head turn to focus on the looming darkness of the Devil's Triangle, Salazar knew that they would soon sail straight into rocks that would tear apart the hull of the ship. Try as he might to safely guide the _Mary_ along, Salazar knew it was impossible, and couldn't help but feel helpless that he couldn't do anything to prevent what was about to happen to them all.

Again.

The awful grinding sound of rock tearing into the wooden hull of _Mary_ sounded as the ship sailed straight into the mouth of the Devil's Triangle, and as the first explosion went off, the screams began. The cries were worse this time around, because all aboard knew what was coming, and there was nothing they could do but experience their first deaths in all its excruciating agony as the Devil's Triangle devoured them again.

-x-x-x-

In the darkness, a large shape moved about, barely leaving any ripples behind as it patiently swam in a circle around the destruction that was being wrought in its victim's minds. Hungry eyes watched and waited for the opportune moment to strike, as it allowed its newest victims to become further ensnared in the past.

Anyone that sailed into this particular creature's stretch of sea would pay with their very being, whether they be dead or alive. If the sailors were living, then the creature would feast on their flesh, delighting in the screams as the sailors died a bloody and painful death. If the sailors were already dead, the creature would devour their souls, watching as their dead bodies became mere husks, to be swept away on the wind or vanish entirely had they no corporeal form. It mattered not to the creature which it feasted on, as it was the same result in the end. Sustenance. A pair of large eyes glittered malevolently as the creature continued to swim along.

Watching, and waiting.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

A/N: Salazar: 0, Dead seagulls: 1.

I do feel like the crew being trapped for so long in the dark of the Devil's Triangle would make them slowly lose their minds, and I liked that Salazar could manipulate those dead sharks, so why not the dead seagulls (when they're not being little shits. If they were alive they would definitely be stealing food instead of clothing items).

I have a head-canon that Officer Moss switches to speaking in only Spanish when he is panicking. And yes, Salazar does not take kindly to being pulled through cabin walls (Also, having Moss and Santos fight together in this chapter was based off something I saw on a Tumblr post where the actors of the characters where practicing sword fighting against another person. It would have been really neat if they had been able to include that in the movie because it was cool to watch). Also, when I used to fence, you saluted your opponent before a bout. I don't know if the same would be applied to Spanish navy men when sparring, but as this is a fictional story, I figured I could take some liberties.

Longer chapter because it may take until next weekend to get the next chapter hammered out and readable (and to do a little more research).


	5. Creature of Darkness

A/N: I apologize for not mentioning before that if I couldn't get the chapter up when I thought I would, that there would be no updates during November due to Nanowrimo taking up my time and Pokemon Ultra Sun/Moon coming out as well. I'm happy to say now that I think I can get back into more regular updates.

Also, as to what the creature from the end of the previous chapter is, I still haven't entirely landed on it. For now, I'm going with a demon of sorts, because I'm sure there are myths around of demonic beings making people's lives miserable on the sea (I didn't come across any creatures/etc. that I wanted to use but did find some things for future chapters). In my mind this creature is kind of a mix of that demon from the first Insidious movie and a hellhound (but more hound than humanoid in shape) though maybe I will have to sketch it. Or you can imagine what you want with what I used to try and describe it.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Everything hurt.

The past being relieved in such vivid detail, none of which could be prevented from happening, was a loss of control no one would ever want to go through. The pain overtook any rational thought, despite the crew of the _Silent Mary_ already being dead. The blasts that came from the _Mary_ striking rock and igniting gun powder hit the crew as forcefully and as painfully as it had the first time. Not one man of the crew could do anything to prevent themselves from reliving the horror, as they were not in control of their own bodies as they relived the first time they had died.

The screams were the worst of it; screams of those who knew what was to come.

Salazar soon found himself in the dark waters, after having been struck in the head and thrown overboard from his own ship. The pain from the strike was as harsh as it had been the first time, and the water just as cold. The dejavu was unnerving, and the Spanish captain could do nothing but allow this travesty to happen, knowing in advance that another, stronger explosion would soon go off, and cause him even greater agony. An agony that would linger with him in death. Even now, he could feel a sharp burn in his hip, and knew that it was going to cause his limp, but still, he could do nothing.

As suddenly as the reliving of their past had begun, and with the last massive explosion, Salazar found that he was back in control of his own body once more. But the last blast had been excruciating as shrapnel and other manner of debris struck his already wounded head, and the Spanish captain couldn't prevent himself from sinking through the water as the curse took hold of him as it had in the past. The rage seemed more acute than before, but perhaps it was because it was fresher due to this unnatural phenomenon he and his crew had been forced in to. Disoriented underwater, Salazar held perfectly still, floating in the water as he tried his best to come to grips with what he had just experienced. It was maddening, to live through the past in such a vivid way, with the knowledge that they had been sailing toward their doom, and unable to change their course.

Something came toward him through the dark of the water, and Salazar almost half expected to see some horrendous creature, for all the unbelievable things he and his crew had come across since their first deaths. But the Spanish captain recognized his crew, no matter what the state of their clothes and bodies were, and recalled being helped back aboard the ship before. It appeared that only he could move under his own power, but for the time being, he allowed his men to help him back aboard the _Silent Mary_. The time it took allowed Salazar to ponder what had just occurred. It made no sense to the undead captain, and he had no explanation for the horrors that he and his crew had just gone through. There was no rational way to explain things being so real and the pain so sharp.

" _Capitan_?"

Salazar waved away some of the crew attempting to help him get to his feet, and instead drew his blade, his free hand going to the broken rail of the _Silent Mary_. With some difficulty, Salazar got to his feet, and leaned heavily against the blade he had drawn, and took in the fact that his crew had loosely gathered around him. Not one man spoke, and to Salazar, it felt as though all of them were still reeling from what had just happened, and struggling to make sense of it. Salazar himself wanted very much to know what manner of evil had forced them through this terrible event, and struck the deck with the tip of his sword irritably as he turned over possibilities.

"Are we to be trapped in this wretched place again?" One ghost minus an arm on one side and a floating hand on the other, ventured after a few moments of silence had elapsed.

"The curse that held us here was broken. The Devil's Triangle should be no more." Santos said to the officer who had spoken.

"Then how are we back in it once more?" The officer from before demanded, waving his floating hand in the air around him, an edge of panic seeping in to his voice "It is too dark. I do not think I can bear the loss of the sun for so long again-"

"Enough." Salazar cut in as he struck the tip of his rapier harshly against the deck, garnering his crew's attention. With a harsh wheeze and a cough of black blood, Salazar turned to the side and spat out the vile stuff over the railing before he rounded on his men, "I will not stand by and allow this crew to become children frightened of the dark. Does any man here remember what happened before this all occurred?" In truth, Salazar was very much in agreement over the idea of losing the sunlight, but he wasn't going to show it. "Before or after the appearance of the fog?"

There were quiet murmurs amongst the crew, before Magda spoke, a frown on his face.

"I saw something in the sea, though I thought it a reflection." Seeing all eyes on him, and his captain looking impatient, Magda continued. "It looked like eyes, yet when I looked again, there was nothing. With the fog, I cannot be sure of what I saw."

Murmuring resumed, and Salazar leaned against his rapier in thoughtful silence, though with an occasional, unavoidable wheeze. It would no longer surprise the ghostly captain if this was the work of some supernatural horror. Mermaids had proven to be real, so why not some other creature of myth? Salazar half turned toward the dark waters, scouring the murky waters with narrowed eyes. If it was indeed some manner of creature, it was somewhere in the dark of this place with them. That blur of a shadow he had seen in the fog...the presence he had thought he felt, coupled with those unfamiliar words...was it responsible for putting the crew of the _Silent Mary_ through this hell?

-x-x-x-

The shadowy creature's eyes gleamed as it swam silently toward the _Silent Mary_ , leaving little to no ripples in its wake. A large maw opened in a horrid smile, revealing serrated teeth. The creature had realized before that its victims were already dead, therefore, it had no reason to wait for their ship to wreck on its island home to feast.

And feast it would on the souls of the dead, while they were still disoriented and unaware. Or so the creature thought, until a voice rang out in the darkness it had created in the minds of its victims.

"There _, capitan_! Those were the eyes I saw!"

The creature, knowing it had been spotted, did nothing to hide its approach now. The beast thrashed through the water, tossing up waves that it normally would have been bothered to hide, so that it might reach the ship more quickly. Time was of the essence. It could only hold its illusions in the minds of its prey for so long.

-x-x-x-

Salazar wasn't sure what to expect of a being able to make one relieve things in such a realistic fashion, but the _thing_ that hoisted itself onto the deck of the _Silent Mary_ was not at all what he had pictured. Neither Salazar nor his men could have anticipated such a creature on the deck of their ship, nor the way the contorted thing moved, limbs lashing out at and striking ghosts across the deck at random.

The creature's gleaming red eyes were its most prominent feature, overlarge and likely good for seeing in the dark, as it had no trouble avoiding the swords that some of the _Mary's_ crew swung at it after the initial shock of its appearance had faded. What was most startling to the crew of the _Silent Mary_ was that the creature's strikes actually hurt, despite all of them being dead. Being throw against the ruined railings normally would have done nothing, yet when the creature smacked a paw against a ghost, and threw them against something, it hurt as it would have had the officer been alive.

Serrated teeth barred in a mocking way, and the creature's spindly limbs stilled for a long enough moment for hooked claws on the end of its paws to be seen. A tail, thin and whip-like, thrashed back and forth in agitation as the creature lashed out at the ghosts around it. The creature's hound-shaped outline of a head turned to and fro as it reared up to stand on its back legs like a man, its body leaning over as it leered and whispered unfamiliar words in the same sinister tone that Salazar had heard earlier in the fog. But then the words morphed into a language the crew could understand, and its words became that much more ominous.

"Dead souls." The creature hissed out, the words unnatural-sounding and grating as they emitted from the gaping jaw. "Dead sailors who continue to ride the sea." The creature's paw shot out at an awkward angle, pinning one of the petty officers onto the deck as the creature's tail swept around and batted away several ghosts rushing to the other's aid. The creature lifted the captured officer level with its face as it bared its teeth. "Many souls here to feast on." With one frightened cry from the officer, the creature's jaw opened wide and crunched down on the ghost's head. When the creature opened its jaw again, it let go of the officer, who pieced away bit by bit as if he'd stepped on land. Soon, the officer was lost from sight.

The crew of the _Silent Mary_ fell back hastily from the creature at this, not having expected the thing to have some sort of power to remove their curse, though instead of being able to live, it had destroyed the ghostly officer instead.

"Ahh...cursed souls..." The creature hissed again, sounding almost surprised. The large eyes glowed brighter, the red deep as a ruby. "I will enjoy this feast even more. The cursed dead always taste better."

Santos and Moss take turns picking at the creature with their blades, careful to stay out of range of toothy maw and clawed paws, as they and the rest of the crew had already seen what happened to their fellow officer if one of them got too close.

The creature tired of the game rather quickly, and hissed something as it coiled its body and took a running leap that carried it over the two officers attacking it. The creature landed and took another leap through the air in order to get to Lesaro, who blocked a clawed paw before the creature knocked him over onto the deck of the _Mary_. Lesaro was unable to rise, due to the clawed paw across his neck as the creature brought its jaw close, clearly pleased it had finally caught another one of the ghosts so that it could continue its feast.

Lesaro tried in vain to angle his blade to stab the creature, but was unable to do so. Putrid breath emitted from the creature's mouth, and had Lesaro been alive, his skin would have crawled at the repulsive stench. Instead, he was forced to actually smell it, and be unable to do nothing but wait for the creature to bite him.

Salazar limped across the deck as quickly as he could at the sight, and thrust his rapier at the creature to stab it in the side. The blade sunk into the creature's flesh with little resistance, drawing the beast's attention from Lesaro to Salazar. The creature let out a furious hiss at the sting, and left Lesaro where he was in order to go after Salazar. The Spanish captain tugged his blade free and barely back-stepped out of the way of the creature's paw. Salazar went in for another strike, but the creature was ready for it this time, and the paw reached out and caught the blade with its claws. Salazar stumbled back a step at the force, though he had not anticipated that the creature would to drop its paw and try again. Salazar kept his rapier raised to block the paw once more, but the swipe of the large paw carried more momentum behind it than before. Salazar could not compensate for it due to his hip locking up on him when he tried to brace himself.

Salazar was bowled over by the creature, taken to the deck of the _Mary_ with vicious ease. Salazar kept his hand wrapped around the hilt of his blade, not about to lose his weapon. Though what he could do from this angle when the creature's weight dropped on him, and a paw lightly dug into his left shoulder, the Spanish captain wasn't sure. But what Salazar did know was that he wasn't going to let this nightmarish creature get the better of him. Salazar tested his right arm, and found that he could move it, though he would not be ale to stab the creature from this angle. At most, he could strike its side, but it was unlikely to do anything but irritate the creature at best.

The creature gritted out some guttural sounding language this time around, but the laugh that sounded was recognizable in any language.

Salazar was incensed that this disgusting thing was laughing at him, and the moment he got some leverage he was going to do something about that mocking sound. Though the moment didn't seem to be forthcoming, as the creature brought its head closer, and Salazar got a good look at it. The shape was indeed hound-like, those overlarge, glowing eyes with slit-like pupils set in the skull. Dark horns could now be made out from where they curved out from the creatures head. Slitted nostrils seemed to sniff briefly before the maw opened and revealed the serrated teeth up close and personal.

"A prideful soul..."

" _Capitan_!"

Salazar felt the creature's rancid breath wash over him, though the Spanish captain felt a spark of annoyance over this thing drooling onto his already ruined clothes. He did not need some eldritch horror making his appearance even more disgusting, and being drooled and breathed on by some twisted being was not something that Salazar was pleased with. It only served as a bit of a reminder that Salazar himself coughed and wheezed out black blood that, on occasion, was not able to be prevented from dribbling onto his clothes.

"Cursed sailor..." The creature gurgled, its head lifting a little in order to tilt to the side to regard the trapped ghost beneath it. "Your soul is mine."

Salazar was not one to be speechless, but he had not at all expected this... _thing_...to be able to actually converse in an intelligent way. Talk of souls, however, would have made the Spanish captain wonder how the creature would go about consuming someone already dead, as they wasn't really any flesh to eat, per say. They were ghosts, after all, and able to will themselves into a corporeal form. But this creature biting one of his crew earlier had given Salazar the answer, and he did his best not to think about that thing putting his head in its mouth. The saliva dripping onto Salazar was disgusting enough as it was...but to have that drool over his whole head was...

"I only feast on the flesh of the living, sailor. With the dead, I need not eat their flesh to be able to consume souls. I need only do what I did to the other sailor before." The creature intoned with a gurgling laugh, as if it had read Salazar's mind, or, more likely, his expression. "It is a game I play...catching those who dare to sail into my territory." The creature's jaw dropped in a grin as the clawed paw curled and dug further into the Spanish captain's left arm. "Dead or alive, it matters not to me. It all ends the same."

Salazar spat a harsh string of Spanish at the creature as he fought to free his left arm from the paw on it. The damning pain from the hole in his head struck at the most inconvenient time, and the agony left him momentarily immobile, the pain greater this time around with memories of the past still so fresh in his mind.

"So weak, when memories overtake humans. Even the dead are not immune, it seems. Good to know that my powers transcend the lives of mortals." The creature crooned, clearly pleased by the display of pain. "Would it be that I could survive on the suffering of men. But no, souls are what I need." The creature's head lowered again, bringing it closer to Salazar as it bared its teeth. "Souls of the dead do have a taste of agony to them that I enjoy. Stronger than the freshly dead."

The breath was off-putting, to say the least, as Salazar felt, as a dead man, he shouldn't have been able to smell anything, let alone this dark creature's breath as it salivated the closer it drew over him. A thudding heart in the creature's chest beat fast, as if it were excited at the prospect of eating someone who was already dead, despite it stating it didn't eat the flesh of the dead. Before Salazar could renew attempts to free his left arm, a new sharp pain raced through the Spanish captain as the creature bit down on his left shoulder, and not his head. But the fact that it hurt disturbed Salazar greatly, and the pain only grew the longer the creature's teeth were latched on to him.

"Let go of our _captitan, el diablo_!"

Lesaro and Magda stabbed the creature in its side from either direction, and the force and unexpectedness of the strikes caused the creature to let go of Salazar's shoulder as it reared up with a furious snarl.

"Cursed sailors. You will not prevent my feast. It has been so very long since I tasted the soul of the cursed dead." The creature's head turned in an unnatural way, jaw snapping at the nearest ghost, though the man just moved out of range of the serrated maw.

Though being pinned from the waist down, Salazar was now able to use his left arm, even with his shoulder awash with unnatural pain. The way the creature phrased its words brought an idea to mind, but to go through with it, the creature needed to be neutralized so that it was no longer a threat. Setting his jaw, Salazar brought his blade before him and gripped it with both hands. As the creature came down from its startled position, Salazar thrust the rapier up and into the creature's exposed throat, the beast's momentum carrying it down onto the blade. The creature let out a shriek of fury, rearing up and to one side, taking Salazar's blade with it as claws flashed down to rake him.

"I will have your soul first, el Matador del Mar. Many sailors I have feasted on because of you, so your soul will taste exquisite."

Salazar made as if to roll out of the way, but only managed a half turn, as his hip locked up on him once more, leaving him in the path of the wounded creature. It didn't even register in his mind that the creature had figured out who he was.

"Lieutenant!"

Lesaro had lost his blade, still in the creature's side, but he moved quickly to put himself between his captain and the creature flailing wildly. With a sound of barely concealed pain, Lesaro took raking claws to his already tattered right arm. But it worked in the end, as the creature shook the blades loose from its flesh with a wordless snarl. The ghostly lieutenant dropped to the deck, but instead of retreating, reached out and seized the nearest blade, and turned over, holding the weapon aloft.

 _"Capitan!"_

Salazar righted himself during the time Lesaro had given him, and caught the blade that his lieutenant tossed his way. With the creature's attention still on Lesaro, Salazar limped forward, stumbling a little, but determined to get to his target. The Spanish captain had heard a beating heart in this creature, which meant that it could be killed, and with little resistance when stabbing its flesh before, he would have no trouble with his aim. With a shout in Spanish, Salazar drove the blade into the creatures chest, hoping that he had judged correctly where the beating heart had been when it had him pinned down earlier.

The creature collapsed onto its side with a hissing snarl but before it could attempt to rise, the rest of the crew of the _Silent Mary_ got to it, fear gone now that they had seen both their captain and lieutenant attack the beast. The crew struck in intervals, avoiding the claws and whipping tail, until, with one final, furious shriek that reverberated in the darkness, the creature's head hit the deck, and its body went still after its limbs and tail struck a heavy tattoo against the deck for several seconds.

Silence reigned.

Salazar's hand went to his left shoulder, and while there was no evidence of blood, he could tell that the arm had been torn into by those teeth, and much to his chagrin, his outfit had been further tattered because of it. Not to mention the drool lingered, and Salazar was going to see to getting rid of it the first chance he had. Salazar has his crew sound off, and they all answered their captain's call but for the one unfortunate officer to fall victim to the creature. It was blatantly clear that the remainder of the crew were still shaken about what had just happened.

Lesaro winced from where he seated on the deck of the _Mary_ , but he shook his head at a questioning stare Salazar leveled on him. The cursed Spanish captain briefly touched his left shoulder again, before he spoke to his lieutenant. " _Gracias."_

" _De nada_." Lesaro returned, a brief grimace crossing his features. "I believe I will stay down here for the moment, sir."

Salazar merely inclined his head, knowing that his lieutenant had placed himself in danger to protect him, and merely waved Madga over to remain with Lesaro. Satisfied that the danger had passed, Salazar turned his attention to the rest of his crew.

"Officer Moss."

"Sir?" Moss looked to be the most shaken of the crew, but he diligently answered his captain.

"Dismember that creature. We don't want to risk it coming back as we have."

Moss made a face at the thought of getting anywhere near the now still creature but at a dark look from his captain, he waved a few of the nearest crew to join him in the grisly task.

The moment the creature was decapitated, a wheeze issued from its mouth, its jaw dropping into a terrible smile. The crew nearest the head backed away, the idea of something moving after being decapitated of all things too much.

"Cutting me to pieces...finally, some smart humans after all of the fools."

"You know we are cursed." Salazar moved closer to the head, even as his crew gave it more wary distance as the head turned in Salazar's direction to meet his eyes with large, now dim ones. The Spanish captain had had the thought before, when the creature had him pinned. "And if you have seen other cursed men, then you may know how to lift curses."

"None left my territory with bodies or souls in tact. My way of lifting curses ends with a final death, as with the sailor I feasted on earlier." The creature's jaw snapped shut as its teeth bared in a ghastly grin. "Though you did defeat me, of which has not happened before. I will give you a hint, el Matador del Mar, though whether you last long enough to follow it remains to be seen."

"State it, then." Salazar said, keeping his blade at the ready even if it gave him a bit of a hunched over appearance.

"On and on, the pendulum swings, a divide is needed to break you free. Though all has been lost, not all is gone forever. Find the one who first bested you and with a collection of others replay the past. Time will then begin to tick and cannot be reclaimed if what has been found is lost again." There was an unnerving silence, before the creature wheezed out a final laugh, "And I now curse you to suffer further yet." The words became searing and harsh as the creature's dulled eyes bored into Salazar's dead ones. "In the distant future you will find this curse come to be and remain with you forevermore until it destroys you, or is broken by your original curse being lifted." The head let out one last breath, before it went still and the red light of the eyes blinked out.

As Salazar felt hit with some invisible force, the Devil's Triangle was suddenly no more. The _Silent Mary_ was back on the open sea, the fog nowhere to be seen. Time has passed from day to night, but even with the loss of time, one of the crew spotted the danger they were sailing straight for.

"Land!" A man called out in a panicked voice.

Salazar ground his teeth and limped to the helm as quickly as his body allowed him to, and steered the _Mary_ skillfully away from land. He wasn't going to allow some hellish creature to be their downfall. He wouldn't allow it. A pirate may have ruined him, but he wasn't defeated yet, and Salazar intended to be living once more. How long it took, he didn't care. Once the danger had passed, Salazar had another officer take the wheel, and went to join his crew, most of whom were staring down at the mangled, butchered body of the creature that had forced them to relive the past so vividly. See the worst possible memory that all of them shared. Not one of the men said a word about Salazar removing the horns on the creature's head, and stowing them away in his cabin.

"Scatter the remains over the course of the day." Salazar didn't want to risk this creature being brought back somehow, now that he knew that there were such beings in the world with such power. It would not do to have something like that spawn again and nearly destroy them all, while they'd been reeling from the past. Had they dallied too long in the scenery of the Devil's Triangle, there was no doubt in Salazar's mind that they would have run aground and been destroyed, vanishing from this world without knowing why.

As night became day, it soon became apparent that Salazar and Lesaro had come off worse from the encounter with the creature. Lesaro was, in fact, still seated on the deck of the _Silent Mary_ , his left arm cradling his tattered right, as if in pain. Despite being dead, it seemed that the creature's claws had actually harmed Lesaro, as he still could not rise from where he had fallen, apart from getting himself into a seated position.

Salazar wasn't as impeded as his lieutenant, as he could stand and move around, until he tried to lean on his cane with his left hand, and felt a powerful agony rip through his arm, along with the pain he was already constantly in. Salazar stubbornly fought through the new wash of pain with a wheezed hiss of anger. It was through sheer willpower that he remained upright, as the Spanish captain felt that he otherwise would have been brought to his knees, and in a similar position as is lieutenant.

"Can you make anything of the wounds?" Salzar asked at length, directing the question to Magda, once the pain had passed and he could speak again.

"No, capitan. It is as if there is no injury even there." Magda nonetheless continued to inspect the limb, as another crew member joined him.

Salazar took the helm once more to guide the _Silent Mary_ along, but it soon became clear that he was not as well as he had first thought. Salazar din't even realize that Magda had taken the helm until he noticed with a start that he was suddenly resting against the nearby railing. Salazar frowned. How could he have blacked out while dead? That was the only explanation for the sudden lapse in memory.

It did not bode well, and the creature's ominous words of cursing him had Salazar wonder if he should take the warning seriously. The clue the creature had offered beforehand would be kept in mind, but Salazar wasn't willing to place the continued existence of his crew on the words of a beast that would just as easily have destroyed them all had they not gotten the upper hand in the end.

-x-x-x-

It took some hours before Lesaro felt well enough to get to his feet, but he only managed to get to one side of the ship before the pain overtook him again, and he was forced to grip the railing to remain upright. Lesaro didn't react when someone joined him some minutes later, for he could hear the wheezing of his captain. Lesaro grimaced when the unfamiliar pain washed over him, before he turned his head toward his captain.

"Do you know what manner of creature that was?"

"It is dead now, so it does not matter as much now." Salazar's right hand absently touched his left. "It seems we need only have to figure out how to deal with wounds that no one can see." And it was true, because, despite several of the crew checking for themselves, damage had been done to both their captain and lieutenant, despite there being no sign of an injury, nor bleeding, as they were already dead. The only thing out of place was clothing that had been further torn, much to Salazar's displeasure.

-x-x-x-

Days later, and still in pain from a phantom wound he could do nothing for, Salazar stared out to sea from the bow of the ship, lost in the memories of what could have been had he not sailed into the Devil's Triangle. It was fresh in his mind after having had a horrific creature trap himself and his crew in a lifelike Devil's Triangle, and forced them to vividly feel their deaths. And be forced to carry even more pain, due to the creature's teeth and claws.

Yet it made Salazar wonder what life would have been like had there been no more pirates defiling the sea? What would they all be doing now, had they not been cursed? Salazar wasn't focusing on anything in particular, as he could see nothing but an endless sea at present. What might have been was now a moot point, cursed as they were now, with no end in sight. Salazar gripped his cane tight, expression darkening. Even after killing Jack Sparrow, he was still not feeling content. He wasn't yet satisfied. He needed something…more…something to keep him going, apart from the hope that he and his men would live again, or at the very least, be allowed rest, or to feel land beneath their feet, even for a little while. It would not do to run into any more creatures like the one that had nearly run their ship aground. Lesaro's voice broke through Salazar's quiet contemplation, as his lieutenant was apt to do lately.

"There is a woman in the sea, sir."

Frowning, Salazar peered over the railing of the _Mary_ and saw that there was indeed a woman in a tiny boat. A brunette in a ragged dress, lending to the idea that she had been at sea for some time. At Salazar's silent orders, the _Silent Mary_ slowed alongside the tiny boat. Salazar limped down the stairs to the lower deck, and stood in the hole near the hull of the ship, to get a better look at the woman.

" _Senorita_ , have you need for assistance?" Frustrated by their horrible appearance, Salazar fully expected a scream, but instead, the woman's voice was calm, a little wavering, yes, but not in fear.

"I would be most grateful, sir. My home was struck by a storm, and it washed me out to sea." The woman gestured to the tiny boat she was seated in. "I was most lucky to be swept near this boat, yet yours is the first ship I've seen in days."

"We cannot step foot on land, but if you would like, _senorita,_ you may come aboard my ship, and we can deliver you close to your home." Salazar was quietly impressed that the woman carefully climbed aboard his ship with no hesitation whatsoever. The cursed captain stepped back to allow the woman some space as he turned to his men that were gathered about, "Bring her boat aboard."

Despite their ghastly appearance, Salazar was not about to let a woman perish at sea because he was concerned over their attire and broken, piecing apart bodies. Salazar's honor outweighed his feelings on his appearance, and the Spanish captain could only hope that the woman would not scream at the sight of some of his men with missing body parts when she saw them all up close.

Much to the Spanish Captain's surprise, the woman merely smiled at him and curtsied, unperturbed by her own ragged appearance and acting as if she could not see all of Salazar and his crew's horrible injuries.

"Thank you for this generosity, captain. My name is Felicia, and my home lies to the east."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

A/N: Again, I apologize for the delay in updating this fic, and want to thank those who have read/reviewed the story. I'm glad that this fic is going well thus far, and I hope that I can keep it up. I am just getting over a cold, so if there are any glaring issues in this chapter, please point them out to me and I will go fix it. The creature's curse will come into play in a later chapter, and cause Salazar more trouble, as it will act as a kind of a countdown clock for him with side effects. Also, the creature's hint is the first of a few other ones, though its hint/clue is the most straightforward, but seeing as it killed one of his crew, Salazar isn't going to take it as seriously until the creature's curse hits him later on (I think I made the hint fairly obvious, but then again, maybe not-it does hint to what will eventually happen in chapters in the future).

I am still rather obsessed with these characters and want to keep writing about them, so for updates, let's just say it will still be on the weekends, though perhaps not every week (I have to see how I do with typing/editing-sometimes it's easy, sometimes it is hard, especially depending on how much time I'm on the computer at work).

Note: Felicia is just an OC I've had floating around and found she would be appropriate for an appearance in this fic. She is the only OC who might show up a few times, but only to offer hints/clues/help for plot purposes. The focus of this story is the _Silent Mary_ crew, after all.


	6. An Offer of Shells

A/N: Yeah...I got distracted from this fic for awhile (aka Pokemon/Villainous). I do have a few more chapter summaries for this written out, and more still to get to, but it is the whole getting around to actually typing them up/editing them that is the holdup.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

"Officer Juan, the charts. Bring them here." Salazar said after Felicia's announcement. The cursed captain tracked a disembodied hand and hat move to the upper decks through the hair that floated across his vision. Brief despair and righteous fury flashed across Salazar's features, due to the continued reminder of how they all suffered with this curse of theirs, some more than others in appearance. It was a shame that Juan had been so close to an explosion when the Silent Mary had been rocked by the tearing of her hull. Gripping his cane tight against a flash of pain through his left arm, Salazar dismissed the most recent reliving of the past, and awaited his officer's return. He didn't have to wait long. Soon enough, Salazar saw a rolled up chart being brought down the stairs by a disembodied hand, the crew parting to let their near-invisible crew mate through.

"Capitan." Juan held the chart out to Salazar, who took it with a nod of thanks. The hat and hand retreated a respectful distance away, though Juan's stance seemed to indicate the crewman's curiosity over Felicia's lack of fear. Especially because she had watched Juan pass the chart off as if she could see his face, and not the blank space that was there beneath the hat. In a way, it was quite unnerving, but not one cursed navy man dared to utter any of their thoughts regarding the woman, lest they offend either her or their captain.

As Salazar unrolled the chart, he was quietly impressed with Felicia's calm manner. It took much bravery and nerve to stand amongst them and not scream or flee from their ghostly and broken forms.

"You say your home lies to the west." Salazar prompted, as he held the chart in one hand. The Spaniard carefully leaned into his cane, and when the anticipated pain didn't surge through it, he limped forward a few steps to stand alongside Felicia.

"May I, capitan?" Officer Santos questioned from the gathered crew. After receiving a nod from his captain, Santos moved forward to stand by Salazar's left side, as if attempting to hide the sight of the hole in his abdomen. Santos stared at the chart for a moment, muttering to himself, before he pointed a finger to it. "We are around this area, sir." Santos tapped a few blotches. "We just passed by these rock formations not an hour ago."

"There?" Felicia stared at where Santos had pointed before she brightened. "Then, that would mean..." The brunette fell silent, her finger tracing along the map until she stopped on a speck of land penned onto the charts. "There. It may be a little difficult to tell, but this is my home. I am...surprised. Most sea charts that I have seen do not have my island marked on them. Most ships can sail by without catching sight of the land. As such, we are not often frequented by visitors."

"You have drifted far from home, senorita." Salazar thumped his cane against the deck as he inspected the map with Santos. "We will chart a course that will bring us to your island. Close enough that you may use your boat to return, without worry of drifting back out to sea."

"I would be most grateful for that, captain. It is most fortunate that your ship came across me when you did. There were some supplies that had washed out to sea with me, though it would have soon run out." Felicia brushed her ragged dress off, looking as grateful as she said she was. "I do not know how long I would have been drifting along aimlessly without aid."

"We do not have any food or drink for the living, but my ship...she will bring us swiftly to the island." Salazar passed the chart to Santos as he brought a hand up to his lips to hide a cough. He scowled into his hand over the telltale sign of blood that welled within his throat. It really did appear that his body decided to go through the motion of dying at the most inopportune times. "If you will, accompany my lieutenant to the helm. I will join you shortly." With a wheezing sigh as black blood trickled down his lips, despite his best efforts to prevent it, Salazar turned away to limp toward the stairs, thumping his cane irritably as he went.

It wouldn't do to have the captain of a ship be such a disgusting sight in the company of a lady, but there was not much Salazar could do to tidy up his appearance. There never would be anything to be done about the black blood that seemed to constantly flow, nor the limp in his gait as his hips threatened to lock up. Even his eerily floating hair was against him, which Salazar irritably gave a shake of his head to redirect as he reached the upper deck and prowled to starboard.

A wreck.

A ruin.

A shell of their former selves.

Both the men and the ship were in such disarray that it infuriated Salazar that anyone living looked upon them in such a state. But he would not abandon the woman to the seas, as his ship was perfect for cutting through rougher seas unhindered.

Rasping out a humorless laugh over the odds of finding someone adrift at sea whom they could help instead of sink, Salazar spat the first of many globs of black blood over the side of the Mary. The longer he stared out to sea while wheezing and coughing up blood, the more the cursed Spaniard despaired at ever finding a way out of this living hell.

-x-x-x-

"I have heard stories from the very few who have made it to my home this past year. Of myths and curses on the sea." Felicia said softly, her gaze tracking Salazar as the captain vanished up the stairs to the upper deck of the ship. "Hushed, fearful whispers of the dead who prowl the sea, ridding the world of pirates one ship at a time."

"You heard correctly, Senorita, though it appears many myths of the sea are becoming fact." Lesaro hesitantly extended his left hand to Felicia, as that arm was more or less intact than his piecing apart right one. Lesaro still felt unwell, for a cursed man, when he overused his right arm, since that was where he had been clawed by the nightmarish creature. "There are holes in the deck, so if I may, I will lead you around them."

"Thank you, lieutenant." Felicia continued to show no outward horror over the sight of the Silent Mary's crew, even though the brunette was up close and personal with the blow apart features of the cursed men. She took Lesaro's offered hand, treating him as if he were merely a mortal man, and not some horrific being with a ghostly appearance and cracked features.

A few of the crew hastened before their lieutenant in a futile attempt to clear the ship of debris and obstacles, lest the lady stumble or get a foot caught in the deck. Moss and an officer missing the upper half of his body discreetly shoved the three dead sharks out of sight.

One never knew when they would need them again, as their captain was fond of sending the beasts after floundering pirates that fell from their destroyed vessels into the sea. Lesaro had made many none too subtle hints about getting rid of them, but Salazar was oddly attached the putrid things, and refused. No one pointed out what a disturbing sight it was when their captain smiled in savage pleasure as the decayed sharks tore into the hapless pirates.

Moss gave the hammerhead a nudge, and hastily beat a retreat when it snapped at him. At a muffled laugh, Moss threw his fellow crew mate a harassed look.

"We are cursed. What would a dead shark do to us?" The crewman asked, trying and failing to hide another laugh at the absurdity.

Lesaro gave the pair a sharp one-eyed glare over his shoulder, before he turned back to continue to guide Felicia along to the helm.

"You upset the lieutenant." The officer pointed out.

Moss said nothing in return, as he had gone back to wrestle the shark further out of sight, even as it snapped at him again, and he let out a few choice words. It appeared as though Salazar's mood was somehow being translated to the shark. The sight of Moss ending up beneath the snapping shark as it flailed got a few hollow laughs from some of the other cursed men who were close enough to witness the sight. Other crewmen called out to Lesaro while Santos dutifully stepped forward to assist Moss with his shark problem, as a great white had flopped along deck to join the hammerhead.

"Here, lieutenant, there are less breaks in the deck here."

"Go get that chair. The capitan has not used it in years."

"Has it not rotted away?"

"There are blankets we found a year ago. We could put one over the chair."

The conversation turned into rapid Spanish as the crew continued to converse with one another. The cursed navy men moved about with ease along the deteriorated deck of the Mary, some phasing through walls or climbing through the floor to the deck above to comb the ship for anything the living could stumble over.

Lesaro reached the helm with Felicia without any hindrances and by that time, Officer Magda had brought out the aforementioned chair, and settled it a short distance from the wheel. Another officer emerged from the cabin to drape an old blanket over the chair, before giving a slight bow and backing away.

Felicia offered a smile as she sat down, before the brunette looked around at her surroundings. It soon became apparent that the whole crew had congregated around her. Most of the cursed sailors appeared curious, likely due to the lack of a frightened reaction to their ghastly appearance.

Lesaro quietly consulted with Magda before taking to the helm and turning the wheel, so that they began to head west, toward the mark on the map Felicia had pointed.

"This is one of the largest vessels I have set my eyes on." The brunette said aloud with wonder. "I can only imagine what she looked like in her full glory." Felicia added, as she gazed up at the tattered sails and then down to the broken mast that trailed along in the waves.

That got the crew talking, many of the men eager to engage with someone, and to speak of the past. Of a spotless deck and full sails that could bear down on pirate vessels as if guided by some supernatural force. Of the good life when they were still alive, and found joy in living.

Lesaro guided the ship along, half his attention on the sea, half toward the crew, lest they overwhelm Felicia with their chatter. But at the very least, their mood was pleasant and almost happy, instead of bleak and melancholic. Lesaro turned his head at a curse spat out in his native tongue, and left the helm to Magda at what he saw. With a faint shake of his head, Lesaro made his way over to where his captain was still hacking up blood and spitting it over the side of the Mary. It was obvious that Salazar was clearly upset with his own appearance, as he always was since the curse had first taken its hold on them.

"Capitan?" Lesaro questioned, as he came to stand by Salazar's side. He waited patiently for his captain to stop coughing, only to tense up the faintest amount over the way Salazar glanced at him out of the corner of his eye. Yet it wasn't a glare the lieutenant received, but a weary, almost resigned look. Lesaro gave his captain a once over, and came to the same conclusion he had before. Salazar found his own appearance unacceptable, especially considering they had company, even though it was to be brief.

"Is the course set?" Salazar questioned, wheezing soon after as blood dribbled out along his lips and down his chin.

"Si, capitan." Lesaro confirmed, tactfully ignoring the blood and keeping his eye on his captain's. "We should reach our destination within hours."

Salazar leaned against the railing of the ship, his grip tightening on the cane he still held in his left hand.

"If I may be so bold to ask, capitan, is there a reason that you are over here?" Lesaro dared to ask, mainly because he could sense that Salazar was in a somewhat decent mood. "Senorita Felicia is not afraid of our appearance, sir. Speaking to the living would be a nice change of pace, would it not?"

"...the men appear to think it so." Salazar admitted after a pause, as he half turned from the side of the ship to regard his crew surrounding the only living soul aboard.

"Come then, capitan, take your mind off this curse of ours for a time." Lesaro responded, thinking that he might be close to overstepping his boundaries, but was relieved that Salazar seemed to be amendable to the idea.

With a final hacking cough off the side of the Silent Mary, Salazar about faced sharply, grimacing as his hip apparently locked up, causing him to misstep and stumble.

Lesaro automatically held out his left hand to allow his captain to re-balance, and inclined his head over the grateful nod Salazar gave him as he straightened up.

"You are correct, mi amigo. It would do some good to speak with the living, lest we forget what we are trying to reclaim." Salazar limped across the deck, cane tapping against the wood as he went. The Spanish captain paused briefly, glancing over his shoulder to Lesaro, his floating hair swaying in time to his movement. "Does the creature's attack still ail you, lieutenant?"

"Now and again, sir." Lesaro's hand briefly hovered over his badly torn-looking right arm. "But it appears to be improving." The one-eyed man met his captain's eye. "And yourself?"

"Manageable. Just another pain to go along with the rest of it." Salazar said at length, before he turned and continued to walk. His words did not seem to be entirely truthful, as he was bent over more than usual, as he almost appeared to stagger along with aid of his cane.

Lesaro followed along, believing it a good sign that Salazar was in a somewhat good mood for the time being, even if it was clear his captain was in greater pain than he let on. Then again, Lesaro wasn't being forthright with the agony that swept through him that sometimes brought him to one knee. While Lesaro felt infinitely better than when the creature had first attacked him, he still was not at his best.

-x-x-x-

Hours later, land began to come into view, just as Lesaro predicted it would be, and the Mary began to slow at her captain's silent command.

"We cannot step foot on land." Salazar explained yet again, as he carefully picked his way along the steps leading to the lower decks of his ship, where Felicia's boat had been brought aboard. "But we will wait here to ensure that you make it back to shore safely."

"Thank you, captain." Felicia curtsied as two of Salazar's men settled her boat into the sea, one of them remaining nearby to hold a rope attached to the front to prevent it from drifting away. "You and your men made the journey swift and interesting with your tales. So I will give you something in return for your help."

Just as Salazar was about to say that was unneeded, Felicia's appearance changed. Before Salazar and his men's eyes, Felicia took on a more sinister appearance. Gone was her ragged dress, replaced with a sleek and rather revealing black gown with red markings, with many brackets and necklaces adorning her wrists and neck.

"There are many myths of the sea that are yet to be discovered, Captain Salazar." Felicia bared now sharp teeth in a chilling smile, as she regarded the Spanish captain thoughtfully. "There is still honor within you, despite the fate you were dealt. You and your crew were the first in many years to actually offer to take me to my home, instead of attempting to harm me or sell me off for coin." Felicia shook out her hair, charms threaded through it, red streaks making their way through the brown. "I will give you something in return, apart from breaking your curse, as it too strong for even my powers to do anything about." She slowly walked around Salazar, a long-nailed hand caressing his left shoulder and arm, before Felicia approached Lesaro, and laid a hand on his ruined and tattered right arm, causing the lieutenant to flinch. "One does not need another curse on top of an already potent one."

Lesaro's left hand flew to his right arm as soon Felicia stepped away, and it was clear from his wide-eyed look that something had happened.

Salazar was silent for a long moment, eyeing the woman as she came to a stop a few feet away. The Spaniard was struggling to comprehend the change he had seen before his eyes.

"Capitan, the pain from that creature...it's gone." Lesaro murmured to Salazar urgently, as he hastened to his captain's side, a wary look turned on Felicia. "Witchcraft?"

"What did you do, Senorita?" Salazar questioned hoarsely. Even though he was in pain, it was only the agony from the curse of the Devil's Triangle, and not the creature's.

"It is bad sport among my people to curse someone already suffering from another." Felicia stated simply. "I merely removed the effects of recent psychic wounds done to you and your lieutenant." The woman stared at Salazar for a few beats before speaking again. "You still have not said what you would like in return for helping me."

"And removing the wounds the creature caused...was that not payment enough?" Salazar rasped. At a nudge from Lersaro, and feeling the gaze of his crew that had gathered, Salazar leaned against his cane. Giving it a thoughtful tap, he spoke, meeting Felicia's now oddly glowing eyes. "If you are offering...then would you grant us a clue to undo what has been done to us?" Salazar wheezed in and out a few times as he waited for Felicia's response, while inwardly knowing that it was not likely that she would outright say what it was that he and his crew needed to do to rid themselves of their curse.

"You are correct that I cannot give you specifics, but I can certainly expand on what that being you came into contact with spoke of, as cryptic as it will be." Felicia smiled sharply again over the way the Spanish captain reacted to her reading his thoughts. "Be aware of the wind, the sea, the sky. As above is as below, look to the ones who sail over all." Before Felicia disembarked, she walked up to Salazar and held out her hand before him, revealing a large spiral shell.

"What is this?" Salazar cautiously accepted the shell, as if it too would change form like the woman that had offered it.

"If one man holds this shell, he will be able to walk on land for one day, four times a year." Felicia wore a saddened smile, her glowing eyes dimming just a bit. "It will not last any longer because the curse you are under is strong, and you do not want to tempt fate."

Salazar's men were quiet, gathered around their captain, all of them looking at the shell Salazar held in his hand longingly.

"Can we all use it?" Salazar questioned, his voice wistful at he thought of stepping foot on land. "Or will only the man who steps on land with it first be able to use it?"

"Only one man, captain. That is how the spell works." Felicia confirmed, her glowing eyes brightening as she studied Salazar closely, as if waiting for something.

"I..." The cursed Spanish captain stared down at the shell he held in his cracked hand. Closing his eyes, Salazar let out an unneeded breath before he opened his eyes, hesitating only a fraction of a second before handing the shell back to Felicia. "I cannot accept this gift but I thank you for the offer. It would mean much to be able to stand on land, but not like this."

"I see..." Felicia took the shell back from Salazar, an unreadable expression crossing her face, before she turned away and boarded her boat.

The officer that had been holding the rope removed it at a smile from Felicia, though a moment later he seemed to be spooked, as if he hadn't been in control of his body in that moment.

Felicia's boat maneuvered away from the Silent Mary, sailing toward the distant island without aid of sail or oars. Felicia's voice echoed out across the waves clearly minutes later, despite the distance between boat and ship.

"Continue on your path, Armando Salazar, and you will find what you seek, although you cannot yet see it."

The men watched until the boat was out of view, before they dispersed to see to the ship at a wordless gesture from Salazar.

"Capitan." Lesaro was still standing by his captain's side, as Salazar continued to stare at the island in the distance. "Why did you turn down such a gift?" Neither he nor his captain felt the need to touch on the supernatural turn Felicia had taken, as both had become used to oddities on the sea.

"It was a gift." Salazar was quiet for a moment, before he turned away from the hole in his ship to face his lieutenant, a soft cough not masking the words he spoke. "If we are to step on dry land, it will be all of us together." Lesaro seemed taken aback by this, and Salazar frowned at him, leaning heavily against his cane. "I am not so desperate as to take something that we all want." Salazar caught an unconvinced look flicker across Lesaro's cracked face, and let out an exasperated hiss filled with blood as he waved an impatient hand.

"Si, si, I would have taken the shell had I still been in pursuit of Jack the Sparrow." Salazar gave his head a shake, hair floating across his face. "I have a clear head, now that the Sparrow is no more. I will not deny a chance at stepping on land to you and the rest of the crew. If I did...it would make me too much like a pirate." Salazar began to walk, a pronounced limp in his gait as he headed up the steps, his cane thumping against the wood with each step. "I will not take such a chance from my men, when it is what we all desperately want."

Lesaro trailed along after his captain, up to the helm, where he automatically accepted the cane held out to him the moment Salazar's hand fell on the wheel.

"We continue on." Salazar let out a rattling cough, clenching the wheel tight until the spasm that came along with his coughing passed. The cursed captain shifted his stance, and in that moment, there was an unfamiliar crinkle in his pocket. With a bloodied frown, Salazar dipped his free hand into his pocket, and drew out a small note, along with a sting of small sea shells.

It was from Felicia. When or how the note and shells got there, Salazar didn't know as he read through the neat letters written in what appeared to be blood.

Captain-

Give each of your men a shell from this string, and you may all step onto dry land together. But be warned, this particular spell, when made for so many, will only last for one day. Choose your day wisely. The time of that one day begins the moment a man steps foot onto dry land with the charm.

For your search I leave you one last clue:

'A sparrow alone is one of a kind, find all and see clearly that unity is needed to break you free.'

May the wind guide you and your crew, captain, for it will aide you on your journey.

Salazar stared blankly at the piece of paper, though the shaking in his hand betrayed his feelings.

A chance.

A gift.

Even if it was only for a day...

"Lieutenant, gather the crew."

"Si, capitan." Lesaro stepped a short distance away and raised his voice. "All hands on deck. To the helm." Within moments, the ghostly Spanish crew gathered around their captain and lieutenant, bafflement clear in those whose faces were visible through their piecing apart bodies.

"My very dead men, we have been bestowed a miraculous gift from the senorita." Salazar held up the shell necklace for all of his crew to see. "She wrote to inform us that if each of us hold a shell, we may step on land for one day."

"Then we must sail for Spain!" Juan's voice emitted from beneath the hat that marked where he was, the disembodied hand reaching up to adjust his hat. The rest of the crew quickly backed up their crew mate with exited shouts and urging their captain to go straight away.

"If we are allowed a day on dry land, then it is only fitting that it be our homeland." Salazar said with a firm nod. The cursed captain firmly gripped the wheel of the Silent Mary, as Santos and Magda charted a course to Spain. As the excitement at what was to happen raced through the cursed men, it raised the normally morose mood of the ship. Salazar found himself looking forward to seeing his home, even just a little bit of it, despite vowing to not go back until they were all living men, lest he lose any more of his crew to the pull of their homeland.

"It will be good to be home, even for a day." Lesaro murmured as he stood near the helm, still holding his captain's cane.

"That it will, mi amigo. Let us make the most of it." Salazar said in return, his eyes taking in the sea before him. For a rare moment, he was not looking for pirates to hunt down. Instead, Salazar was looking out to sea as if expecting to see Spain appear before him that very moment, despite the time it would take to get there from their current position at sea. After spending that day on land, Salazar knew that he would have to turn to the clues bestowed on them. One from the creature and one from Felicia. The only sour note in his otherwise elated mood was the wonder about what 'sparrow' meant in Felicia's note.

Salazar knew only of one sparrow, and he did not want to see that damn pirate ever again,whether living, dead or as a hallucination. But this he would look into with his crew, to decipher what had been given to them at a later date. For the time being, Salazar guided the Silent Mary for a brief rendezvous home, a genuine smile crossing his lips as the excited chatter of his crew rose around him.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

A/N: This fic is mostly self-indulgent because I really wanted more of these characters, but if there are people that enjoy reading this, then that is good too. I binge-watched potc 5 for the past week, though mainly the parts with Salazar in it for the last few days. So...got back into this because of that. (I think I was also delaying because there wasn't as much to this chapter as the previous one, but that seems to be the case for this story, going back and forth between story progression and Salazar and his crew coming across mythical beings/ect.)


End file.
